Ninkai no Ou
by ToBetasered
Summary: The path of Uchiha Itachi changes one fateful night. Possessing a supreme power and free of his clan what does destiny have in store for Konoha? A Naruto AU
1. Chapter 1

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

**I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way**.

"Speaking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Demon"**

**Ninkai no Ou**

xx

_One shinobi gave his life to defeat the Monster Fox…_

_Held forever in the memory of the Leaf…_

_**Under the light of a cold blue moon, kitsune prance…**_

"Hold it Baaack! Even if you die!"

"Don't allow it within sight of the walls!"

A giant fox with nine crimson tails marauds in the night, destroying the countryside to the sounds of screams. Its terrible chakra hangs heavily in the air, a strange heated wind carrying the stench of death and a killer intent so intense that the very clouds flee from the sky.

"**RRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRR!!"**

**-BOOM!-**

"Gyaaahhh!"

"H-hold out until the Fourth-"

"Flank it, raise an earth rampart-"

"He's here! The Yondaime is here!"

_**Held proudly in the memory of the Leaves…**_

A Daikaijuu-sized summon, a giant toad wielding an equally titanic sai, faces off against an irate demon fox. Atop its head a hero stands resolute.

The all is light…

All is silence…

For a moment, no one understands, and then….the scant handful of square miles of forest separating the battle site and the outer walls of Konoha, the Hidden Leaf ninja village, erupt in cheers

_**The Yondaime Hokage, held forever in the memory of the Hidden Leaf….**_

xx

**At the Same Time…**

xx

They stood grimly, looking upon the body of the child.

The Kage Bunshin of the Yondaime shuddered as if some ill wind had somehow entered the candle-lit chamber.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, watched the scene grimly, sparing only a glance at his neighbors. To his left, stand his fellow advisors, Koharu and Homura; and to his right, stand two Uchiha elders, Fugaku and Mikoto. The latter group is escorted by eight AnBu, Kuma and Neko stand in to open, the rest are hidden in the shadows watching.

Normally, the Uchiha clansmen would not have been allowed in the chamber, to witness the final half of the sealing ritual if not for one thing.

"O-okaa-san…" a child's voice murmurs sleepily.

On the sacrificial altar lay Uchiha Itachi, unknowingly the imminent recipient of the Kyuubi's yang chakra.

At the child's helpless murmur, Mikoto sobs quietly, under the disapproving glare of the Uchiha elders.

Sarutobi spares them just another glance, for Fugaku it is enough.

"You disapprove?" The man asked lowly.

The Sandaime stares ahead a moment longer before replying, his eyes never leaving the trembling body of the Fourth.

"I wish that it sere not necessary to burden Itachi-kun further…"

The Sandaime was referring to the Shinrabanshou technique that had been used on Itachi at birth, the willing sacrifice of several Uchiha elders too old to serve had been given toward awakening Itachi's powers to their fullest potential.

"Itachi was born during a time of war." Fugaku intoned, "With respect, Sarutobi-dono, granting him the skills of thirty of our most skilled warriors was to make him the perfect tool of the village, a means to create a greater bond between my clan and the village, with the war's conclusion, my son's sacrifice served no purpose," The man finished quietly, "Now he does."

It was at that moment that the village advisors became determined to separate Itachi from his clan, though for different reasons. Koharu and Homura, though impassive, nursed worries over such a power falling into the hands of any single clan. The gazed at the Uchiha elders with veiled suspicion and the elder glared back aware in part of what thoughts might hide behind those blank stares.

Sarutobi evaded the confrontation by stepping forward, past Kuma, who guarded the Yondaime. Though in his heart he made a solemn vow to se Itachi treated as a hero and free of his family's influence.

"Being sacrificed once should have been enough… there will be no third time!" The elderly man thought.

Finally, standing at the elbow of the Fourth, Hiruzen asked his question. "What is it like?"

"Like dying." Came his successor's solemn reply, "It's something that can only be explaind through experience." The man's voice hushed and was accompanied by a persistent chill. "He's here, the younger man stated aloud, before bending over with a groan.

"It's time!" He gasped. "Tell her, tell Kushina, I love her, protect Naruto and…this child, I leave the village to you! Sarutobi!"

"FUIN!"

And so, the Yondaime Hokage, died, passing into legend, without ever knowing, of his wife's death in child birth, nor of the burden of hell that Itachi would fall under. That cross would be Sarutobi Hiruzen's to bear.

As the Sandaime Hokage…

xx

In the aftermath of rebuilding, many of the injured did what little they could to lighten the burden of the frenzied efforts to protect Konoha and project an image of strength. This burden would in part be offset by the early graduation of the academy to the rank of genin. Itachi however, would not be among them.

The six year-old rested by his window, in an apartment on the opposite side of town from his parent's home.

The Sandaime had made good on his promise, to separate Itachi from his parent's influence.

What the Sandaime could not have known, was that Itachi had not been as unwilling a sacrifice as he or the boy's own parent's assumed. Truly a prodigy, he had been hidden, listening to the elders propose that either he or Sasuke bear the seal. Aware of the consequences, Itachi hadn't made a force when his father had rendered him unconscious with a combination o drugs and sharingan-backed genjutsu.

Even drugged, Itachi had retained enough awareness to listen in his father's true opinion and his mother's lack of one.

Dark eyes hardened. His chakra control was now abysmal, thrown out of whack by the sealing and explained away as an injury perpetrated by the attack. Itachi knew better.

So his chakra control was sub-par, he would improve it.

So he was hated and unloved, then he would create a place for himself.

With quiet intensity, Itachi made his promise… to his soul.

He was…Uchiha Itachi, Host of the Kyuubi no Kitsune


	2. Chapter 2

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

**I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way**.

"Speaking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Demon"**

**Hyouhyou**

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Life was a routine. After awakening an hour before dawn, three hours before the academy began; he would eat a snack, then dress and spend an hour training. He would train either by practicing his chakra control or running laps through the city. Then he'd return to his apartment to cool down and shower to prepare to go to the academy.

Every element of his life had been turned to his goal of becoming a ninja in the year since the Kyuubi attack. He either studied theory or trained in his free time. He practiced chakra control techniques at all times. As he walked in the direction of the academy, Itachi channeled chakra into his legs and feet. With just enough chakra he would be able to soften his footfalls and hover slightly over the ground, effectively erasing his footprints.

In class, he covertly practiced balancing small items on the knuckles of his hand using chakra. The practice had earned strange looks from his now reticent academy instructors. It had taken a large amount of trial and error and slipping a few places in the class ranks but eventually he had discovered why his chakra control was so abysmal.

To sum up Itachi's chakra control woes, the way that the academy instructors taught channeling and molding chakra was simply inadequate to his needs. Rather than drawing power from a well deep within, channeling his chakra was now like sitting next to a geyser and getting soaked in the overflow of power. He surmised that to protect itself from the strain caused by the rush of power filling him, his body was instinctively restraining the amount of chakra that he could use at any one time.

The result of his situation was that Itachi's body would channel increasingly larger amounts of power until there was a sudden surge of what could only be the demon's chakra. Immediately after the power surge his celestial gates would restrain his power and his techniques would be underpowered for days.

The solution that he had found was to change the way that he channeled and molded his chakra. Channeling chakra was almost effortless, too effortless. If he drew too much chakra then his body would restrict his power in an effort to protect itself. Instead of drawing out his power Itachi allowed his chakra to flow freely from himself and focused solely on how to quickly reduce the flow to prevent the power surges from triggering an involuntary response.

Molding chakra was an easier challenge as instead of trying to shape the chakra into the form that he wanted, he simply envisioned the effect that he needed and poured the appropriate amount of power into the technique. The methods that he had come up with made his chakra control slightly imprecise but that was a problem that could only be resolved by practice alone.

On the evenings after the academy Itachi often stayed behind to practice shuriken no jutsu or traveled to a pond to practice fire ninjutsu, often with an Uchiha member watching in the distance.

To those who watched him Itachi seemed to live his live as if nothing was wrong. It scared the shit out of people. The unflappable child had gone from abysmal chakra control in the days after the sealing to the best in his class, possibly the entire academy, within the space of a year. His family provided him with monthly gift hampers of food and training equipment but kept their distance otherwise. His parents saw him rarely and he had not been invited to his younger brother's introduction to the clan or even allowed anywhere near to Sasuke or any other child in the village. Wise minds worried about the affects of this isolation and fully expected him to act out in response to this ostracism.

All of the subtle slights, meaningful pauses in conversation, harsh glares and muttering when he passed were simply ignored like the water falling off of a duck's back. Where grocers and shop owners dared not to deny service to someone bearing the Uchiha banking talisman, some businesses would provide unnecessarily brusque and deliberately rude and demeaning service.

Itachi mentally catalogued the stores according to necessity. Those food or weapon stores that attempted to provide him with substandard items in addition to substandard service were not worthy of his patronage. The storeowners that provided vital supplies but were rude to him were treated to total indifference regardless of what they said. Storekeepers generally took his business since money had nothing to do with personal prejudices. The few who quietly but blatantly refused service were treated to a weapon that was rarely unsheathed in public, Evil Itachi.

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"You heard me we don't serve your kind here!" Grunted the bookstore clerk.

Itachi pitched his voice to garner the attention of the nearby customers. "You don't serve Uchiha?!"

Flustered, the man stuttered a denial, "T-That's not what I mean at all!"

Itachi pitched his voice even higher to give it a more childish quality, he widened his eyes and demurely covered his lower lip with a hand to hide the fact that he had bitten his lip and was really crying tears of pain.

"Why don't you like the Uchiha?! Don't you love Konoha?!"

Several incoming customers left at the ruckus and a masked jounin in the adult section looked up at them from the cover of the newest installment in the Icha Icha series. By now the shopkeeper was sweating from nervousness. He leaned over to the seven year old boy and hissed.

"Get out!"

Itachi replicated something that he had seen his younger relatives do in their more unruly moments. He puffed his cheeks cutely and leaned toward the old man and let loose with tears and a shrieking cry.

"Why! Why! Why! Whhhhhyyyy!!"

Startled by the unexpected tantrum the storeowner realized that people were beginning to gather outside his store. Some people who couldn't see what was happening were muttering about mean old men and unruly children. The man realized that it was only a matter of time before the police force came to investigate the disturbance.

"All right fine, I'll sell them to ya!"

The tears, screaming and foot stomping abruptly stopped and the boys face quickly adopted a shrewd look. With a sinking heart the bookkeeper imagined what the boy would look like with horns, bat wings and a pitchfork.

"You know thirty ryo is a bit steep for some used books. I'll take them off your hands for five."

"They're worth thirty brat."

"Tsk, tsk… And the kiddy porn?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the cache of kiddy porn that I'll say you're hiding in the cellar under the floor. And that you just tried to convince me to pose for your collection. I sure that you'll be vindicated but by then my dad will probably have torn this place apart looking for it and you know…" Leaning in with a sinister air he whispered. "I heard that they 'do' things to people like you in jail, stuff happens."

The old man's eyes widened, "That's blackmail!"

Itachi turned his head aside and watched the shopkeeper out of the corner of his eye, speaking in what was obviously a false childish tone he warbled, "I'm sowy jiji, what does bwakmwail mean?"

The man looked like he was having a fit. Unable to speak coherently he simply threw the books at Itachi and pointed at the door. The satisfied child caught the books expertly and made his way out of the shop.

Taking in the curious looks that he was receiving Itachi calmly gestured to the paling shopkeeper and cutely cocked his head to one side.

"Hey lady, that ero-jiji just said that I should ask you. What does fellatio mean? And why is it all that you're good for?"

He slipped away under the cover of the screams.

Heh, Evil Itachi.

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Life in Konoha wasn't as intolerable to Itachi as it could have been. The navy blue high-collared Uchiha shirt hid the lower portion of his jaw, mostly concealing the whisker-scars on his cheeks from view. The crest on his back and his silky dark hair gained him passage and admittance to stores and through the streets with a minimum of fuss so long as he kept his head down or there was a police officer nearby as there always seemed to be.

His instructors seemed wary of him but generally marked him fairly. Not that they ever had cause to take away marks. Aside from a three month period during which he had been unable to use bunshin no jutsu Itachi had consistently remained at the top of his class in senjutsu, ciphers, shurikenjutsu, taijutsu and basic skills such nawakiri no jutsu.

His abilities which had earned him vocal praise from his sensei were now met with awkward silence. His classmates had all noticed the difference especially since their parents had begun to warn them away from him. He had once overheard two instructors musing about his suitability as a ninja and the drastic fall and then rise in his ninjutsu skills. They never explicitly said 'why' he was unsuitable but parents had been vocal in their relief about his decision to opt out of the graduation test when he was six.

The shinrabanshou within his body had not activated with the sealing of the fox. Itachi could only in hindsight spot the incidents when it seemed that he had known or done something unusual. If his father's words could be trusted, then he could hardly judge what would be unusual for him, since the technique had been implanted at his birth. The only indication that it might be in him were the reactions of others. How many times had an instructor commented on his unusual talent for the ninja arts, or on his advanced knowledge?

All in all Uchiha Itachi lived his life quietly and alone. Whispers followed after him wherever he went but no sign of discomfort ever left his apathetic shell. Eventually the day that he had been waiting for approached. The academy graduation exam would begin in two days.

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"Next up, Hyuuga Hideo, please come into the exam room." A chunin academy instructor called out.

Itachi sat next to a window in the upper back row of the academy lecture room as he reminisced about the two days of rigorous testing. Rigorous for everyone else except for him that is. Honestly, were they even trying with the ciphers? They used a simple polyalphabetic substitution with letter transposition using the angular declination of the sun at the beginning of the exam as a cryptovariable. The hidden message was an obscure history of the order in which the different areas of Konoha had been settled with certain words and phrases misspelled or out of order which conveyed the true message.

"Hokage-sama loves to eat hot manjyu with his tea on cold evenings."

The misspelled words also held a message in a simple cipher.

"He also enjoys reading dirty books and is a closet pervert."

"_Weird."_

The most difficult part of the exam was deciding whether to go along with the widespread cheating that was taking place in the examination room or finish that portion of the test right there so he could rest before the next test.

The rest of the written exams passed in a similar manner to the bemused child who was genuinely puzzled by the sometimes comical looks of extreme concentration and the looks of irritation when he foiled attempts to cheat using his test-paper. There was nothing he could do about the Hyuuga though. Except for re-arranging the answers in the correct pattern thirty seconds before the end of the exam, the boy's look of horror was priceless on his normally sanguine face.

"_That's why I prefer pencils to pens."_

Oops, channeling Evil Itachi again, gotta keep those wings tucked in.

The physical exam had been more of a challenge by comparison. Though there may have been a possible assassination attempt during the survival test. He had saved one of the darts from the hidden snare that had been disguised by a chunin-level genjutsu and left on his path. His examiner had shrugged the advanced trap off as perhaps being left from another training exercise. A chunin-level trap, carelessly left in an area designated for new genin or academy students to hold a survival exam where the possibility of injury was already high.

"_Right."_

There was a poorly disguised look in the chunin's eyes that boded ill for Itachi's taijutsu evaluation. The chunin couldn't actually do anything that would seriously harm him but he could hamper Itachi's taijutsu score by going all out, that and land several painful blows.

Itachi settled into a non-academy ready stance that had been taught to him by an uncle when he was five. It was the basis for the Uchiha clan's taijutsu, Sekkendou, an adaptive and reactive style that focused on analyzing an opponent's attack and counter-attacking even as one is being attacked. When combined with the sharingan's analytical and chakra sensing abilities, the Uchiha fighting style took its true form as an eclectic system of techniques that evolved in the midst of battle and often left their opponents wondering if the Uchiha could see the future.

Even Itachi had underestimated the potency of whatever poison had coated the darts. Deciding to save himself the trouble of whatever the chunin who was 'evaluating' him was planning Itachi had palmed the dart that he had taken from the snare in the survival test, into his hand, between the knuckles of his index and middle finger.

When turning aside the fast and brutal blow that the chunin had struck at him with, Itachi had stabbed the tip of the dart into the crook of the man's elbow. Immediately the offending arm went limp and the chunin's face gained a faint green tinge. The man wobbled backwards and seemed ready to cry out as he collapsed backward.

Itachi judged the moment perfectly. He waited until the man's mouth was fully open before unleashing a roundhouse kick with all of his pent up frustration behind it. The instructor's jaw was unhinged with a sickeningly wet and meaty pop. Teeth and blood sprayed some of the on looking instructors as the injured man fell on his back and began choking on blood.

Ignoring the pathetic wheezing sounds coming from the fallen teacher Itachi walked past the academy nursing staff and his awestruck classmates. Standing before his chief instructor, he waited until the man focused upon the boy standing before him. With an innocent pout and a slight moue of confusion he asked the man a single question.

"Ano…Sensei, do I pass, de gozaru?"

"_Down, Evil Itachi, down!" _

Incidentally, no one ever did figure out what Itachi had done. The chunin instructor certainly wasn't talking, even after his jaw was popped back in and the wires were removed. The poison was a fast acting cocktail of soporifics and pain-inducing hallucinogens with amnestic side effects that quickly broke down in the blood-stream. The man had intended to leave Itachi helpless, in pain and afraid in the forest where no one would find him for hours.

The nurses just thought that the chunin had been kicked in the head too hard. By the time that fully certified medic-nin got their hands on him the poison was already out of the man's system. The chunin instructors thought that their colleague had been either incompetent or careless and that such an injury was to be expected when underestimating a genius student.

Itachi's Taijutsu score was the highest ever seen since Maito Gai's explosion of youth.

"_Seishun!"_

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After the disappointment of the written exam and the excitement of the physical exam Itachi thought that things were looking up. The ninjutsu portion could only get better right? Maybe his instructor would steal the scroll of forbidden seals and he'd be forced to hunt him down.

"_I'm not that lucky." _

"Tenzen Mai !"

Itachi looked around the classroom with an air of disinterest. There was only one other student remaining. He was an Uchiha like Itachi, a number of years older though like the rest of the class. Uchiha Shisui, he thought the boy's name was, perhaps ten or eleven years old. Young, but nothing compared to Itachi's seven years of age.

The boy in the lower row felt his stare and turned to look at Itachi with a slightly challenging look. A challenging look that faded into mild irritation as Itachi pretended not to see him and that he had been looking over the other boy's head at the chunin by the door all along. It seemed that Shisui was beneath Itachi's notice even though the other boy was second to Itachi in just about every subject in the academy.

"Uchiha…Itachi!"

At the chunin's call Itachi calmly stood and walked down the stairs to the front of the class. Following the directions of the chunin, Itachi crossed the hall and entered the examination room. Usagi-sensei and another chunin instructor sat at a table in front of the class. They had finished marking a paper when Itachi entered the room. Itachi walked slowly into the room taking in with a cool gaze; the brief flash of irritation that flickered across the face of Usagi-sensei's assistant.

As Itachi came to a stop before the two men Usagi-sensei spoke, "Ah! Itachi I don't need to tell you that you've already passed the exam. Make three bunshin of yourself and you have the Rookie of the Year Title in the bag!"

From the cleam in the assistant's eye it seemed that the man knew of Itachi's past difficulty with the technique. Usagi-sensei seemed oblivious to his partner's behavior. Itachi tapped his chin and thought for a moment. There was this one technique that he was fairly certain had come from the shinrabanshou.

His fingers formed handseals in the blink of an eye, too fast for even the chunin to follow. With a soft murmur and a puff of smoke five Itachi stood before the instructors.

The assistant looked livid but Usagi-sensei was pleased as he handed the hitaite to Itachi. Both men were surprised however when the Itachi standing before them threw the forehead protector to the one exiting the room, who caught and pocketed the item before leaving. The chunin could only stare in shock at the boy who stared back at them impertinently before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.

"K-K-Kage Bunshin!!"

"_You rock Clone evil Itachi, or evil clone Itachi or whatever."_

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**AN: I haven't forgotten about Naruto I'm just planning what role he should play in the story. This is the second chapter of the story and where things really begin. I know that Itachi's personal relationships need to be explored and I will. As for Itachi's parents giving him up for the sealing the jury is still out about their deeper motivations. The most obvious one is for the power of the Kyuubi to combine with the Shinrabanshou. They expected to have Itachi under their thumb but the Sandaime enacted an enforced separation. The Uchiha clan didn't like the idea but are convinced that a few years of separation would only highlight the bonds of family. How did I do? Somehow Evil Itachi reminds me less of evil Miharu and more of one of my kid brother's friends who used to think that going around kicking adults in the crotch was funny. TTFN **


	3. Chapter 3

Tomogara

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

**I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way**.

"Speaking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Demon"**

**Tomogara**

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They stood together inside of a sunlit apartment. They were in the living area of the small two room, one bathroom suite. Given that its most recent occupant was a child, the place was immaculately clean. Looks can be deceptive however; and on a closer inspection of the dining-table's underside several clumps of dust were revealed.

But what had prompted the bear masked Anbu to inspect the room with such care was not a concern for proper hygiene. Held in place to the underside of the table by chakra induced static attraction was a single strand of black hair. An old man, dressed in the robes of a hokage stood in the middle of the kitchen, one of his eyes was trained on the kunoichi beside him.

"This is Itachi's apartment. I've worked hard to separate him from all influence from that clan within reason. I'm afraid to say that my efforts have actually been aided by their own approach to the boy." A gnarled and liver-spotted hand stroked the Hokage's white goatee, "Combined with the social isolation encouraged by the people of this village Itachi is being placed under an incredible amount of emotional strain, even if he does not express it. With his power I sometimes worry of what form his rage will take when he can no longer contain it."

Noting the startled posture of his subordinate the elder shinobi explained his thoughts. "The Uchiha Clan plans to use his isolation as a wedge to bring him under their thumb, but that will not work, Itachi is one who possesses the mind, skills and abilities of a genius that appears only once in several generations." The old man's face was blank as he said those words but a flicker of an old sadness passing behind his eyes betrayed that neutrality.

"He's clever enough to eventually figure out just why his position in his clan and the attitude of the villagers toward him have changed; that is, if he hasn't discovered it already. I can command silence on the matter of the Nine-Tails but I cannot command people's hearts. The isolation of Itachi, is caused and perpetuated by the children of this village observing and mimicking the behavior of their parents. Were it not for the decree, their emulation would turn to outright hatred. Do you know, that when a person denies your right to exist, their eyes can be very cold?"

"What are my orders?" Questioned the masked woman.

"Itachi is an unpredictable person, not even his own father can say that he completely understands what motivates his son. I have my suspicions though, and that is why I want you to look over this child." Sarutobi's grey eyes level a gaze that pierces through the bear mask.

"I want you to protect him!"

Turning away from the woman the hokage walks in a circle about the room. "Itachi…is the type of person…who would prefer it, if he could die quietly without inconveniencing anyone." Turning toward the Anbu officer again he rapped his orders out in a sharp commanding voice. "Henceforth you shall be code-named Murasaki Moriko, tasked with protecting the next generation to blossom among the leaves of the great tree called Konohagakure!"

The newly named Moriko removed her mask and hood, revealing light brown hair held in a short pony-tail, framing a heart-shaped face from out of which a pair of eyes with dark pupils and deep violet irises gazed at the Sandaime with a determined expression, "Yes, sir!"

The Third grinned at the woman and remarked, "Although, it seems that Itachi is serious about his privacy."

Moriko nodded, "The windows, doors and letterbox are all rigged with simple alarm traps. This room has also been arranged to make it difficult for strangers to simply wander about it without disturbing something."

The Third Hokage nodded, "Itachi-kun as gone through great lengths to ensure that his privacy is honored. Perhaps we should leave?" With a hand seal and a puff of smoke and the two vanish from the room. Careful not to disturb the literally hair-trigger traps, the room is left in almost the same condition that it was entered. The one difference though was the fact that two piles of dust had spiraled down from the ceiling, landing in the exact location of the two who left. The trap waited for its creator to return to inspect the results.

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Inuzuka Suzume had long since her early childhood, come to terms with the uncaring, unfairness of the universe. At a very young age, and to be truthful even now, Suzume had been smitten with the idea of the feminine ideal. She wanted to be smart, and thin, and beautiful; wear those gorgeous pink dresses that she had seen in the Haruno clothes store once, to meet a charming prince and… Oh! The sparkles!

At nine years old she got the 'talk' from her mother which was a lot kinder and less blunt than it could have been. She had been taken to see the alpha of the Inuzuka dog pack, Kuromaru, mate to illustrate the mechanics of how things were done. What followed was a conversation that could be concisely broken down as thus. Fact number one, only a slut puts out for any man that wants her. Fact number two, unless she wanted to spend the rest of her adult life cleaning up after the clan's puppies she had better not leave a litter of her own bastards for her mother to take care off, i.e. use protection until ready to settle down. Fact number three, she could hold out for prince charming if she really wanted to but the pink dresses and sparkles were never gonna happen, **ever**; Inuzuka women were big breasted, tough, loud or all of the above. Fact number four, Inuzuka women had big feet, B.O. and grew body hair like it was nobody's business, either wear long pants or be resigned to a** minimum** of twice daily shavings.

Life was unfair. Reeeeaaaallllyyyy **unfair!**

Nadeshiko, Suzume's red Akita inu, had neither the strength nor the temperament to become alpha female in the Inuzuka dog packs. The six month old pup was quiet and aloof from everyone except for Suzume, preferring to follow her human partner about her daily routine with intelligent and patient observation. The little dog sat in a stomach pouch sown into her grey hoody and sweater.

It wasn't as if Nadeshiko was the runt of the litter though, the Akita had been an invaluable aid in helping her to ace the survival exam, giving advice and advanced warning in the form of sort yips and barks. Suzume knew that senjutsu was not her best area but like their dogs, Inuzuka bred for intelligence. A full week of studying had prepared her as much as possible for the rigorous written tests. She certainly hadn't scored high but she definitely didn't** fail** either.

Which was why she was puzzled and a little insecure after learning just who her teammates would be, Suzume was sure that Usagi-sensei had said that the academy was grouping graduates by test score. The highest scoring, with the average student and the dead last. As they sat in the outdoor lounge that they had been told to meet their sensei at, Suzume was feeling the weight of silence press all of her minds ramblings down upon her. She looked to her right at the seemingly unconcerned boy sitting next to her, chewing on a stick of pemmican.

He was just a little more than half her age and weight, yet this kid had left the entire graduating class behind in the dust, Uchiha Itachi. She wasn't the type to moon over the kid as some of her classmates and even a few instructors had taken to doing. Yet, Suzume had to admit to being filled with a sense of awe whenever she looked at him. This was someone who had laid out a chunin after all, beaten him so badly that his jaw had to be wired shut and with seemingly minimal effort to boot. His test scores in their normal survival skills training had consistently been on par with her scores and it was her best subject. With the exception of a strange six month dip in ninjutsu skills, apparently caused by some injury incurred during the Kyuubi attack, Itachi had been first in his class by a very wide margin in just about every subject.

He wasn't a genius, he was a super genius!

Nadeshiko didn't seem too keen on the boy but then she had always been reticent around people that she didn't know, especially after the terror of the Kyuubi attack.

Itachi wasn't the problem though. Suzume briefly glanced to her left and couldn't stop herself from flinching. Sitting to her left, sat Hyuuga Hideo, a branch family member who had been glaring through her, at Itachi. Glaring through her at Itachi for the last half-hour for some reason and he hadn't stopped glaring at Itachi from the time that the squad groupings had been announced. Those big, pearl-like eyes were boring through her skull at the other boy since she had the misfortune to sit between them. Nadeshiko softly whined in sympathy.

The thing is that Itachi was the confirmed rookie of the year. Probably one of the youngest, if not _the_ youngest shinobi to ever graduate from the Konoha ninja academy; and certainly the only one to do so with a three hundred and sixty-seven point lead over his nearest competitor in the overall ninja skills rankings. If he was the highest scorer then either Suzume of Hyuuga Hideo was the dead last. Suzume doubted that it was her but Hideo had been at least competent in the field tests and was always placed in either the second or third spot in the overall rankings. He would have had to completely flunk the written tests to be placed last in the class. That was impossible for some one with the Byakugan, he could have simple used it to see the answers that he didn't know.

It's possible that they were trying to create a specialized team, trackers or scouts maybe, but with such high powered members the team dynamics could be skewed. Hideo had such lovely flowing hair though and Suzume loved the color of his lavender eyes even if they were creepy. She tugged at her own shaggy brown mane that spilled from the edges of her forest-green woolen cap as she thought dreamily about Hideo's glossy hair.

"_The Sparkles!"_

As if she had spoken aloud the Hyuuga suddenly shifted his focus toward her. Suzume started guiltily but Nadeshiko's whine made her aware of what she had missed while in dreamland. Entering from a door on her right was the jounin who would probably be their instructor and team leader. The woman was five feet seven inches tall and wore a deep purple turtle neck sweater with long, loose sleeves under her flak-jacket. Violet eyes seemed to weigh them as the woman introduced herself. Suzume couldn't help but stare at those eyes with a faint blush. Their purple luster seemed to refract the light in a hypnotic fashion that just entranced her. She tugged on the front of her green wool cap as a distraction from the thought rampaging through her mind.

"_The Sparkles! The Sparkles!" _

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Her clan spent most of their time outside of Konoha. Although the main branch swore fealty to Konohagakure, their village had at one time been the capital of one of the small fiefdoms that existed during the days of the Secret World Wars and had opted to peacefully join under the banner of Fire country rather than face forcible annexation. It wasn't as if her people didn't benefit from the arrangement. Her clan had been royalty, owned great tracts of land and were honored within the ninja world for their grasp of genjutsu. Within their own sphere of influence they were as highly looked upon as the Hyuuga or Uchiha Clans were in Konoha.

By agreement with the Shodaime, in exchange for being provided with a share of the missions coming in to Konoha and guaranteed military support, her family had given up their most skilled main family members to serve and die for Konoha as need be. Her natural skill for genjutsu had endeared her to the infiltration and assassination ANBU division and she was occasionally farmed out to do 'light' work with torture and interrogation. It had been three years since she joined the Anbu at fifteen and the first time in a long while that she was going without her mask, albeit under an assumed name.

She had spent the morning finishing her reading of the various reports from the teachers and official dossiers on her new students. In her care were a branch family Inuzuka and Hyuuga and the outcast son of the Uchiha Clan's clan-leader. The Inuzaka girl could stand to work on her taijutsu and ninjutsu skills, but her survival skills rating was consistently high as expected from a member of the Inuzuka clan. The girls sensei had described her as slightly scatter-brained but competent. Moriko intended to find out just what that meant.

The Hyuuga was a puzzle. He was well trained by his family and evaluations by the psych-ops officer stationed at the academy indicated an intelligent, well balanced young ninja trainee. Yet he had completely flubbed his written exam and was placed last in his class. His other skills and past history had more than passed muster so he had graduated dead last in his class even with the atrocious score. On paper he looked like all brawn and no brains, yet talking it over with Usagi-sensei from the academy had indicated that Hyuuga Hideo probably didn't feel challenged by the curriculum and had taken to just coasting by in order to make it through the academy; his lack of initiative had finally caught up with him at the graduation exam. Moriko intended to find a way to put an end to that if the shock of coming last in the graduation class was not enough motivation to the boy to improve his skills.

On the subject of Itachi she had been briefed by the Hokage himself. A genius from a genius clan was the overused description for him. Graduating one year older than the previous record set by Sharingan no Kakashi, Itachi's scores were something that had been cause for great praise before the Kyuubi attack and was now the center of concern for many villagers who didn't want that 'Kyuubi brat' to become a ninja. Stoic and steadfast in nature, with a shrewd mind and amazingly self-sufficient work ethic. His psychological profile was normal for a child from a ninja clan who had been trained from a young age. Her own childhood profile had probably been very similar although she had been thirteen years old when she was inducted into the academy compared to Itachi's six.

Of the Shinrabanshou hijutsu that had been implanted into Itachi at birth she knew only what she had been told. That it was a secret technique that allowed the implantation of techniques copied by the sharingan into the minds and bodies of a subject. The jutsu had a high mortality rate and could not be used on large numbers of people, only Uchiha children at birth. The practice had been forbidden by the Shodaime but Itachi had been given the technique after heavy lobbying by the Uchiha Clan during the Third Secret World War. Itachi was literally born and bred for battle and Moriko understood the Third's pity for the boy. As someone who was born to be sacrificed it wasn't a great leap of logic for the Uchiha to offer him again for the ritual to seal the Kyuubi. She sincerely hoped that the Hokage's estimation of what went on in Itachi's mind was right however, as someone with such a supreme ninja technique, talent and the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune could possibly be the most dangerous threat to the Hidden Leaf. If Itachi proved to be a threat, she swore that she would kill him, even if she had to give up her own life to do it.

As she slowly made her way through the crowded streets on her way to the academy Moriko pondered just what she would do as part of her official evaluation test for the new genin. The Hokage simply advised that she create a test that would examine the qualities that she valued in her comrades. She had a general idea of what she was going to do and had taken the time to gather some special supplies.

Now that she was prepared, Moriko only needed to do a meet and greet with her prospective team. Entering the Shinobi Academy, she made her way through empty corridors as students had been given the day off and most chunin instructors were assigned elsewhere for this one day vacation. Her loose sleeves rustled as she walked up a short flight of stairs to the chunin lounge that she had arranged to meet with the children. Pausing briefly to reach for something in her rear equipment pouch, she palmed the item into her hand as she reached for the door and opened it. It was time to meet and greet.

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On the day after the shinobi graduation test Hyuuga Hideo opened his eyes an hour before dawn as he had for every day since he had joined the Shinobi academy at the age of seven. He sat up from his futon and stood, not too slowly, not too quickly. After a short stretch that was neither too vigorous nor, by heavens no, too slothful. The twelve year old sank to his knees and folded his futon into a rectangle of exactly eighteen inches by four feet. He placed the sleeping item into a closet and went about the rest of his morning rituals. Since today marked his first step into adulthood Hideo had been excused from the duty of cleaning his house and other chores assigned to Branch family members. He ate an early lunch with the other adults of the Branch family and after greeting his father and mother in a purely cordial manner, he retreated to his favorite spot in one of the less frequented meditation gardens.

Sitting upon a stone bench overlooking a koi-pond, Hideo calmly centered himself as he awaited the rise of the sun over the garden's walls. One by one, he brought forward his memories of the past few days, a vital exercise in memory and emotional control. As he had done for years he thought of the events of the previous day and with great patience and tranquility, integrated them into his mind peacefully.

"_Fuck!" _

With great patience and tranquility he tried to-

"_Fuckit!"_

With great patience-

"_Fucking, !!"_

With grea-

"_That fucking, ass-suckin-#!!"_

...the important thing is that he tried….

The fact that Hyuuga Hideo was the first member of his family to attain such a low ranking in the academy that he had barely scraped through by the skin of his teeth was a subject that was **not** mentioned within the clan. The fact that Usagi-sensei had felt it was necessary to take the time to come to his clan compound to speak with his parents about his, to quote, unusually abysmal performance, was **not** mentioned. That he and the rest of the graduating class had been far surpassed by a little kid barely more than half Hideo's age was another thing that was **not** mentioned. There were so many more things that were **not** said to Hideo that at times it was all he could do to stoically endure the weight of things **not** being said without ripping out clumps of his meticulously well kept hair and going off howling into the wild.

Within the Hyuuga Clan, reading body language was as refined an art as the spoken or written words. People said one thing with their mouths, often said another with their eyes and the rest of their body. Imagine greeting someone that you knew only casually but felt great physical attraction for. A man would suck in his stomach and straighten his back; unconsciously turning his body to face the object of his interest full on. The eyes would trace the lips and breasts before focusing on the eyes, signaling interest. A woman who felt physically repulsed by a man she felt obligated to treat with respect would take every effort that she could to smile or at least turn her chin in the direction of the person to show that he had her attention. She would however, be sure to keep a comfortable distance away from the person that she was dealing with, keeping her focus away from the eyes of her partner during conversation in order to maintain a reasonable amount of physical and emotional distance.

Everything about the Hyuuga's body language over the last few days signaled quiet disappointment and disapproval for Hideo. It was evident behind every glance and every politely worded request. It was in the set of his father's shoulders and his mothers pleasant greetings.

And he knew just who to blame.

Not that Hyuuga Hideo was a vindictive person, or was emotionally immature to the degree that he would refuse to shoulder at least part of the blame for his near complete failure. Hideo completely acknowledged that he had been overconfident and careless. He resolved to learn from the experience and privately admitted to himself that he didn't deserve to be a ninja if he couldn't. There was just one thing that kept niggling at him every time that he sought to put that incident behind him. It was that superior smirk, that irritatingly dismissive glance; that posture that screamed out to the world. "I am King!" After much contemplation Hideo had assigned a special designation for the unique change in posture that he had witnessed that bratty kid undergo.

Evil Itachi.

He had resolved to let the matter drop but here he was, hours later, his shame was now a matter of public record and he was sitting next to that disgustingly tall Inuzuka girl glaring at the boy to her right in spite of himself. His mind repeated was a constant calming mantra as he watched the unconcerned brat eat with seeming obliviousness to the tension in the air. He only let up on his forty-five minute long, one-sided staring match when their instructor finally deigned to show up. It was a testament to the degree of his mental turmoil that Hideo briefly lost his cool and snapped out.

"You're late!"

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"_Fuwaaaahhhh. Soo sleepy."_

These were the profound thoughts of Uchiha Itachi, tremble before them. His form lazily melted into the cushions as he chewed absentmindedly on a stick of dried veal.

"_Comfy chair."_

While some worried about Uchiha Itachi's eventual mental breakdown into a murdering psychopath with patricidal and matricidal tendencies. Itachi was just trying to get comfortable.

He was, of course, aware of the regard of his two teammates. Suzume-san and her pet nin-ken were well known to him and if he were so inclined Itachi would have liked to play with the Akita pup. However, lately it seemed that most dogs were becoming overly aggressive or overexcited in Itachi's presence while cats and birds, especially crows just couldn't get enough of him. Cats just seemed to suit Itachi's temperament. If they were in the mood for affection he could give them affection and receive it in return. If they wanted to be left alone, he could leave them alone and not worry about their feelings. The animals seemed to know just what mood Itachi was in and either left him alone or rubbed against him purring depending on the circumstances. Itachi realized that it was a selfish relationship but that suited him just fine.Crows were much the same, and seemed to be even more astute than the cats that Itachi cared for in his few moments between training sessions.

Just like a cat, Itachi stretched on the couch as he lounged there waiting for his instructor. He didn't encourage conversation with his teammates as it seemed that each was wrapped up in their own thoughts. Itachi was confident that he would be able to get along with the Inuzuka girl, the Hyuuga on the other hand...

Glare. Glare. Glare…

Well he seemed to be a simple minded idiot. It looked like the more that he ignored the older boy, the more irritated he became. This suited Itachi just fine, he got to needle a stoic asshole and all he had to do was nothing at all, perfect!

Glare. Glare. Glare…

You couldn't pay for entertainment this good.

It got even better when their Jounin instructor arrived. The woman merely raised an eyebrow at the Hyuuga's outburst and in a patient tone replied.

"I had informed Usagi-sensei to tell you that I might be running late and that you should wait here. If you were not informed or you had difficulty understanding the message then I apologize."

Suzume perked up and nodded gamely while Hideo looked away with a snort. Itachi could see the faint blush on the Hyuuga's cheeks and he bet that the jounin could see it as well. He turned his attention to the woman taking in every detail of her that he could in an effort to learn more about her. She wore black sandals with ankle straps and slightly raised heels. There were kunai and shuriken holsters on both legs and her jounin flak-jacket seemed to be filled with scrolls. He examined the smile lines about her generous mouth as she spoke.

"Good afternoon. My name is Murasaki Moriko and I have been assigned to you as your potential jounin instructor as genin until you achieve the rank of chunin. Itachi immediately seized upon the deliberate slip but allowed the Inuzuka girl to ask the question on their minds.

"Umm, Sensei, what do you mean by saying you'll be our 'potential' instructor?"

Murasaki sensei leaned against a pillar set in the center of the room and tapped her cheek with a finger as she answered.

"Well the fact of the matter is that right now you three aren't actually considered genin." Forestalling an outburst from any of the children Moriko quickly continued, "Statistically, one in every three members of the graduating class will be allowed to become an official ninja after passing a special test administered by a jounin."

Itachi raised his hand and asked, "Then what was the point of the exams that we had to take just to get here?"

Moriko smiled eerily and Suzume and Nadeshiko flinched, "That was just to choose people who **could** become ninja. You don't get to go into the field until you've been vetted by a jounin."

Hideo grimaced lightly in disgust and spoke harshly, "Fine! So just what is this test and when does it begin?"

Itachi smirked and formed the tiger seal just as Moriko spoke in answer, "The test, Hideo-kun, has already begun. Find me within an hour or be prepared to return your hitai-ite."

Brown vines emerged from their seats; Suzume and Nadeshiko tried to leap to their feet but were ensnared and pulled back into the cushions. Itachi remained in position gathering chakra even as a vine choked him to death. Hideo's eyes widened and the veins around his eyes bulged as his activated Byakugan partially reveal what Itachi and Nadeshiko already knew. They were in a genjutsu.

"Kai!"

"Kai"

"Kai!!"

"Arf!"

Slowly, with slight resistance, a distortion wave seemed to appear in the middle of the room and spread outward, washing away the images and sensation of the vines and revealing them to still be in the room. Hideo and Suzume sighed and relaxed from their half-startled poses, but Nadeshiko and Itachi remained on alert.

"_Something is wrong."_

"Wait!" Itachi spoke, "We need to do this together."

Hideo sneered and stood, stalking out the door he spoke, "I don't need your help to do this!"

Suzume continued to sit on the lounge couch with a puzzled expression on her face as Nadeshiko barked softly in her ear. Frowning slightly, she cast her head from side to side as she sniffed the ear. Nadeshiko whined. Thinking out loud she said, "Sensei's scent is here but it neither enters nor leaves this room. That's not possible!"

Itachi nodded lightly as he spoke, "There are techniques that can be used to do that but I saw Sensei palm a bottle into her hand when she was entering the room. I think that she may have sprinkled something at the door to erase her scent. Can you smell Hideo?"

She paused for a second and nodded, "Yes, I can."

Itachi's expression was that of someone who had made an elusive discovery, "Great." He said, "I want you to do the same for me, all right?" At Suzume's nod he placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke in a commanding tone.

"Kai!"

In a flash, the world instantly resolved itself to Suzume's perspective, no haziness, no slow creeping distortions, she was just there. Itachi still had his hand on her shoulder but his dark eyes were unfocused as he bit his lip. Suzume placed her hand on his and sent a reciprocating pulse of chakra into his body as Nadeshiko shook free of the remnants of the second illusion. When the two of them had composed themselves they were greeted with the sight of Hyuuga Hideo entering and exiting through the door to the room with an expression of extreme frustration.

"Visual Genjutsu is not the the only type of genjutsu to exist. Ideally genjutsu are advanced ninjutsu techniques that can be used to manipulate any one or more of the human body's five senses." Itachi explained as he walked over to Hideo, "She used an offensive tactile and visual genjutsu to arrest our movement and to distract us from noticing the creation of a simpler, subtler and more difficult to disperse visual, auditory and tactile illusion that required outside interference to disperse. Not even self-inflicted pain was enough to lift the illusion for more than the second needed for me to dispel the technique on you."

Turning to Hideo who had entered the room again, Itachi formed the tiger seal briefly before tapping the older boy on his shoulder and then speaking to the confused and blushing Hyuuga.

"Sensei was very sly in her choice of words. One in three people doesn't necessarily mean that only **one **person on **our** team can pass."

Seeing the stubborn expression on Hideo's face, Suzume continued on placatingly in Itachi's place, "These traps can only be undone if we work together, we can do it if we hurry, there's still half an hour left!"

Agreeing grudgingly, Hideo attempted to speak in a dignified manner, "Even with my Byakugan it would take three hours to search through the entirety of Konoha."

"We don't need to." Said Itachi, ignoring Suzume's crestfallen sigh, "Sensei used a special poison to confuse Nadeshiko's sense of smell but it doesn't seem to guard against fresh airborne scents, all we need to do is get near to where she is and we should be able to find her."

Seeing that he had his teammates' attention Itachi continued, "When sensei's bunshin first entered the room I noticed that there was a patch of lavender briars caught on the hem of her pants. There was also a sweet smell on her breath."

Suzume and Hideo stared, one in surprise, the other in disbelief.

"_You c-could smell that?"_

"We're looking for a sweet shop, located at or near to an area with a good amount of low shrubs but no heavy foliage. If you look for areas like that it should narrow down our search and then Suzume and Nadeshiko can zero in on Sensei's position."

Although the two would normally bristle at taking orders from a seven year-old, Hideo and Suzume followed Itachi to the roof of the academy where they began their search. It had taken a false start but Team Nine was born.

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He had been discovered wandering on a battlefield between Hidden Rock, Sand and Konoha and taken in by the head of Konoha's medic-nin program. His natural talent and obedient demeanor had endeared him to the director who had adopted him and named him Yakushi Kabuto. He was a young man of seemingly unbounded potential and deep within his brain, a hidden seal activated.

"I apologize for having forgotten the glory of Sasori-sama."

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**AN: I've been re-working the early chapters of God of Flash so there won't be any new chapters for a while. Ninkai no Ou seems to be coming along all right through I had some difficulty fleshing out Itachi's genin teammates. I settled on a three person squad in the theme of Team Kurenai. I had wanted to use Inuzuka Hana as the female member but in cannon it seems that she's actually two years younger than Itachi. Hyuuga Hideo isn't really an idiot, like Hinata he's actually an extremely self-conscious individual and tends to see things in others that aren't there. His family recognizes this and his parents really don't want to say anything that could be taken the wrong way, hence the silent treatment. Suzume's personality is partially based on one of my aunt's pet hunting dogs named Fizz, during Christmas he always spazzes out over the shiny ornaments. TTFN**


	4. Chapter 4

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

**I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way**.

"Speaking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Demon"**

**Oboe**

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Blue jays flew over head, twisting and flipping through the air. The murmur of people going about their everyday lives in Konoha, served as a backdrop to the stirring minuets of birdsong. Off of the main thoroughfare, down a side alley leading to a back street filled with warehouses, there was a mysterious lurking shadow. The figure stalked silently through a junk-filled yard, moving in short fits and bursts. It shifted carefully from cover, edging slowly at first, before traveling to another pile of debris at a brisk, but unhurried pace. After a few minutes, the shadow had made its way to the side of an abandoned warehouse in Konoha's business sector. The shade short scrub tree broke up the individual's outline as it leaned against the warehouse's wall. Stopping under a window, the figure slowly stood and for just a second, dark eyes peered around the edge of the sill.

Zzz-Pzzt- "Red one to Oversight, target identified, repeat target identified." -zzzt

Bzzt-"Roger Red one, Oversight to Red two and three, by the numbers people." –Pzzzt

ZZzt-crackle-"I read you Oversight, Red two in position." –zzzzt

Zzzzzt-zzzzt-pzzzzt- "Pretty…" -zzzzt

ZZzt- "…" –zzzt

Pzzzt- "…" –Bzzzt

Crackle-zzzt "…!" Czzzt

Zzzzt- "Useless…" zzzt

Bzzzyt- "Pay attention Suzume!" –static-crackle

Zzzzt- "Eeek! Red three in position! Um, sorry?" –pzzzt

ZZzzt- "Stay focused, Red One, Red Two, watch the exits, Red Three flush the target out!" -zzzt

Bzzzt- "Hai!" –bzzt

Czzzt- "Hai!" –pzzt

Pzzt- "Hai" –zzzt

Zzt- "Arf!" –zzzt

His great-great-great grandfather had moved here years ago during the reformation of land for the purpose of business under the Nidaime. Although the Village was first and foremost a military installation, the fact that many of the town's citizens were born and raised on this land meant that Konoha also had to be a place where people could live and learn and have fun. The human aspect of life could not be denied lest all forget just what they were fighting for, their children's future.

As part of the reality of life in a partially civilian town, commercial districts had to be established, and since for security reasons all items going into Konoha had to be carefully screened, a place was needed to keep these goods and wares. Hence, the creation of the Warehouse District in Konoha. They had moved into Building Three about that time and several generations had endured the stresses and strains of wars, fires and even an attempted sabotage of the items stored within. Even though only non-essential goods were stored in such an open location, his family had profited greatly and proliferated with ease. Now, his life, was about to end. Although he himself was only vaguely cognizant of that fact on an instinctual level, the yellow, malevolent eyes, the toothy grin and the posture that screamed of a predator stalking prey all boded ill for his future prospects.

Just as the great beast was about to pounce, a hail of shuriken thudded into the ground between them startling his foe. He squeaked in relief and scuttled away as his antagonist fled in the other direction. He looked back from safety as another form burst in from a side door and almost caught the fiend. Four curved blades slashed at the boy's face sending him reeling backward to avoid losing an eye. The boy's partners had already blocked off the door. The fleeing fugitive was forced to make a desperate leap through a nearby window, hoping for a way out.

Bzzzt- "Got him." -zzzt

Zzzt- "Good work Itachi, everyone!" –zzzt

"Lets get out of here Nadeshiko, I thought I saw a rat."

"Arf!"

"You coming, Hideo-kun?"

"Hn."

The two gathered outside, where they found their Sensei and third teammate waiting. Moriko stood watching Itachi who hadn't moved from his seated position since the operation began. In his lap purring, lay Kurou-chan, Uchiha Akane's pet Balinese long-hair. The elderly shopkeeper had reported that the two-year old had run away from her sweet manjuu store and had been missing for a few weeks before she decided to commission a D-rank mission to find her lost cat. She had been worried after some of her neighbors had mentioned that the recent rain storms had caused some of the village's alley cats to die. Itachi absentmindedly stroked the thrumming cat behind her ears as he idly thought about his missions to date.

A glance to the side told him that Hideo was gingerly touching his nose while muttering soft imprecations about cats in general and Kurou-chan in particular. No doubt the boy thought that the fact that the cat had run straight for Itachi was proof of some dark conspiracy against him. Suzume, was staring at her feet when Moriko-sensei began to give her evaluations. The jounin had her hands on her hips as she spoke to them with a slight smile.

"O.K. mission recover Kurou-chan, success. Suzume you need to be more focused on the mission in the future, there will be times when lapses in attention can be fatal in the field and while on guard duty. Hideo, nice work driving the cat toward Itachi although you overcommitted when you broke cover too soon, if Nadeshiko hadn't been there to back you up, our objective would have escaped. Itachi, you did a good job of waiting to let Kurou-chan come to you, sometimes force cannot be used to solve all problems. Although, if that cat hadn't recognized you we'd probably still be chasing her, you need to show more initiative, like Hideo."

Itachi slowly nodded to show that he understood what his sensei meant, as Suzume blushed in embarrassment and Hideo looked away. Gestering for Itachi to stand and for her students to follow her, Moriko turned and started to head for the Mission-Assignment Center of the Hokage's building. Raising her hand to get their attention she spoke.

"We have time to get another mission if we hurry, lets go."

Itachi tried walking slower…

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**Two weeks earlier. **

Two of the three new genin stood on the roof of the academy. The Hyuuga was atop a telegraph pole. His hands in a dragon seal, his vision expanded to cover fully a third of Konoha. This was the third time that he noted down for his teammates the places that fit the description of what Itachi said they should be looking for. Her kage-bunshin hid behind a complex weave of illusion that he should miss as long as he didn't look too closely.

With that final task done, the Hyuuga met his teammates on the ground and told them of the six locations that he had found. The Uchiha boy picked out a roadside stall that sold sweets as the likeliest candidate and they set off Inuzuka in the lead. The clone dispelled.

In front of a certain roadside stall, a jounin kunoichi smirked. It seems that she had picked up some cute ducklings.

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**Present**

Suzume sighed as she sat down in the middle of Hotaru-san's herb garden.She'd been spending her time weeding and removing pests by hand. She had despairingly failed to prevent Nadeshiko from giving one of the bright-green, furry-looking caterpillars an experimental bite.

"_Eeeww."_

The pup had literally dragged her tongue across the ground in order to get rid of the taste and whimpered pitifully until Suzume had begged permission to get some water to flush the dog's mouth. She seemed better now but Suzume mentally laid plans to take the dog to the vet to make sure that the bug hadn't been poisonous. Their second mission of the day was more tedious than time-consuming as the genin quickly uprooted all of the weeds but had to meticulously check every plant for signs of pest infestation. Itachi and Hideo seemed to be playing a ridiculous game of one-upmanship or rather Itchai seemed to be tricking Hideo into doing his share of the work.

Hideo would make a snide comment about little kids getting tired and Itachi would either pull out more weeds than the Hyuuga or finish inspecting his share of plants sooner. In order to not be upstaged, Hideo would markedly increase his efforts to uproot more weeds than Itachi or insist on inspecting Itachi's plants. The way things worked out, Hideo ended up doing both his share and two thirds of Itachi's share of the labor. Moriko-sensei only shook her head in amusement as she watched the young Hyuuga overwork as Itachi relaxed in the shade sleeping.

"_Boys…" _

The mission was completed by mid-afternoon and the three children separated to go their different ways after they were dismissed by their sensei. To Suzume's surprise Moriko-sensei beckoned for her to stay behind. The girl blushed as Hideo watched her consideringly for a moment before walking away. Itachi was already nowhere to be found. Suzume focused on her jounin instructor's mouth and tried her best not to get caught up in those hypnotic eyes.

"_Oh Lord! The Sparkles!"_

"-and that's why…Hey! Are you listening to me girl?"

Suzume started in reaction to Moriko's raised tone and the older woman sighed in exasperation.

"I'm sorry sensei."

Moriko gave her a wry grin and started to speak again.

"As I was saying, it seems that you have some pretty hyperactive senses, even for an Inuzuka and I think that you should try asking a member of your clan for help in dealing with them as they seem to be messing with your concentration."

Suzume's eyes widened in surprise and her voice took on an amazed tone as she considered the possibility for the first time. Her face brightened as she spoke to her teacher with a smile.

"I'd never thought of it like that since I've always been this way. Thank you, Sensei!"

"_Tie that hair into a ponytail and dress her in a formal military uniform. My Prince!!"_

Moriko took in the girl's dreamy expression and shrugged in answer to the Hokage's amused look of curiosity.

"_I hope this works out for you, but I guess that it'll take time for things to change." _

"_The Sparkles!"_

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Hyuuga Hideo was not an idiot; let's get that one thing clear. He firmly believed in the right time and manner for all things in the world and acted accordingly. That Itachi wasn't capable of keeping up on the more strenuous missions was painfully clear no matter how he tried to hide that fact. Even their sensei had finally caught on to the truth today. The poor kid had needed a freaking Midday nap during their mission, hah!

Still it worried him to think of what they would do for their more dangerous missions, that is, if they were ever assigned more dangerous missions with someone like Itachi on the team. He rolled his shoulders as he thought, easing the aches in his back and arms. If nothing else, the menial labor that they had been forced to perform would strengthen their bodies later on.

Hideo sighed as he greeted his cousins at the gate before making a beeline for the bathhouse. He managed to avoid any of his female cousins, not that he was trying to, on the way to the baths. Resting in the pool, he noticed the head of the branch family Hyuuga Hizashi walk in with his infant son Neji. Hideo straightened his back but Hizashi merely waved to him to continue sitting. The two year old Neji shyly looked at Hideo with large, cloudy lavender eyes, from behind his father. Hideo nodded politely at the boy as his father entered the baths. Neji blushed slightly at the response and ducked his head when he noticed his father observing the interaction with a soft smile.

Tugging the young boy into the water, Hizashi ignored his son's soft protests and small flailing arms as he washed behind the boy's ears. Hideo quietly observed Neji's unblemished forehead before ducking his own curse-marked head below the water. Scrubbing his hair and trying to wash away not the accumulated dirt of the day but a strange sense of melancholy.

"_Fate."_

Leaving the baths refreshed, Hideo made his way to the branch family's training hall. Meeting with his father at the entrance, Hideo bowed.

"Greetings, my son."

"Greetings, father."

Hideo followed his father into the training hall and sat before him on the floor.

"Tell me of your day son."

And so he did, careful to remain fully respectful of his sensei and teammates. He answered his father's questions as best he could and expounded when needed. It took some effort to be objective in his opinions about Itachi but the elder Hyuuga read between the lines. The conversation continued until Hizashi and Neji entered the room.

The two took a seat to the side, with a healthily, flushed Neji looking at Hideo and his father with poorly concealed excitement. Noting where Hideo's attention had gone, his father began to stand as he answered his son's unspoken question.

"Neji-kun will be at an age where he can begin to learn jyuken in another few months. Until then he will be observing the training of the older children."

Hideo nodded and, after bowing, lowered himself into a ready stance with one leg and hand slightly extended forward, palm facing his father, slightly stooped with a straight back, and one leg firmly under him with his knee and elbow facing away from his body. His father examined his stance before initiating the first strike. Hideo's corneas took on a hardened appearance as the blood vessels in and about his eyes began to stand out. Redirecting the first attack and the feint and attack combination that followed Hideo allowed the day's worries to ease from his mind as he began training in earnest.

Hyuuga Neji watched with tons of curiosity but limited understanding as the older people danced. The movements were flowing and entrance with strange slaps that sounded like splashing water. Pudgy cheeks dimpled as his mouth widened in amazement, the younger one had just done an acrobatic cartwheel. It looked exciting would he truly be learning how to do that? Neji's father Hizashi smiled at his son's innocent pleasure.

"_Something that can never be taken away from you Neji." _

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The twentieth time up the tree nearly killed him. It was also an excellent test of his chakra manipulation skills. After he had graduated the guards who had been stalking Itachi seemed to have disappeared, the ones that he could sense at least. There was always a fleeting presence when he was in the forest that told him whether or not he was truly alone. Not that it mattered, whether or not he was watched, Itachi religiously practiced his chakra control and physical exercises.

On some days he meditated on the surface of a secluded pond, practicing keeping the surges of chakra from disrupting his hold on the surface of the water. At times he did it while balancing a leaf in the palm of his hand or while exercising or reading a scroll. He practiced tree walking until he had mastered the skill even with kage-bunshin throwing rocks at him as a distraction. He had continued with a number of training regimes, some of which he was sure had come from the Shinrabanshou. Unfortunately, Itachi found that many of the ideas that came to him were not feasible due to his small stature. This fact didn't however stop him from trying out the training techniques that he could use.

The clearing had been filled with several wooden stakes with their blunt ends sticking out of the ground at uneven levels and at various angles. If he fell on them it would hurt but that was just part of the motivation to succeed. Nine kage-bunshin soon joined him after a hand seal and they began a light spar, using chakra at the sole of his feet to balance on the uneven stakes. He had fallen twice, gouging his back the second time. The wound had healed overnight and he was back to training.

"_Anything it takes."_

The incident with the tree however, wasn't due to any fault on Itachi's part. He had been spending the evening after Moriko dismissed his team doing tree walking exercises. Twenty repetitions didn't even wind him any more and just as he had reached the top of the tree and was taking in the scenic vista of Konoha from above, he blacked out.

It was a sudden sharp pain that felt like someone had poked his eyes with hot needles. His vision went dark and then his eyes felt like they were burning. In the back of his mind he could hear a faint chanting. One moment he was standing atop a tree and the next he was falling, but not falling. He was in a shadowy world with a red sky illuminated by a crimson moon. Shadowy sealing script seeped painfully out of the pores of his skin, each symbol linked to a memory.

There was so much to know and do. He was fighting for his life on a battle field, his arm was severed but just his right hand and a sword was enough cover to distract their attention from his allies' pincer movement. He had been impaled by a branching piece of bone in a veritable forest of bones. He was loosing a lot of blood but the enemy had deliberately missed hitting anything that would instantly kill him. The fool wanted to gloat, counting on the agony to incapacitate his prey. As long as he lived to walk away from this fight nobody cared how he won. Pushing aside all outward distractions he reached for the clashing chakras and began to summon lightning. There was certain nerve bundles which created a riot of pain when cut or burned of shocked with electricity. His prisoner screamed in agony, begging pleading, having abandoned all pretences of dignity, blood-flecked lips uttering confessions for every past crime real or imagined. Her information had already been issued up the chain of command this was not about duty to his village anymore.

This bitch and her friends had been laughing, giving deep belly-rolling guffaws about the things that they had done to his… The ways that they had defiled his… Red eyes closed as he forcibly calmed himself. Carefully picking up the knife coated in disinfectant he caressed an area of unblemished skin.

"_Hotarubi, you were so beautiful." _

The prisoner's single remaining eye looked at him wildly as she tried to flinch away. The drugs in her system kept her completely lucid so that she couldn't faint from the pain. Her tongue had already been removed early on so that she wouldn't be able to bite it off and swallow it, drowning her self in blood and suffocating to death. The jutsu on her voice box allowed her to scream and curse and beg and plead to her hearts desire. A good thing too since he had also pulled out her teeth.

Making a tiny incision in the muscle of her thigh, he sliced away a thin strip of skin. And set it on the makeshift frying pan. Cackling as she screamed herself hoarse, bloodshot sharingan eyes took in every detail of his vengeance.

"Enough meat to keep you alive for days!"

The horrors of war, the techniques and memories of thirty one elder Uchiha had been given up for him. All for those memories were for him. Itachi wanted to puke as his eyes watered but at the last second through a tremendous act of will, he pulled away from the storm and reached out to the bark of the tree. Chakra flaring about his hands as he struggled to maintain a firm grip. His breath left his body with a great whoosh as his chest slammed into the side of the tree.

He carefully slid the rest of the way to the ground as his heart raced. Itachi, his name was Itachi! Itachi sank to his knees and leaned his head against the bark. His mind was already integrating what he had learned, turning past experiences to the analysis of current problems. Gathering himself, Itachi struggled to his feet and with a cross shaped seal summoned his kage-bunshin into being. They looked as badly as he felt but also as determined. Picking up some of the branches that had fallen with him, they fashioned bokken. Gripping the stick in two hands, he had two! The Kage-bunshin charged.

"_Anything it takes. At all cost!"_

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The shadowy figure released the genjutsu on the Anbu. Turning to his partner he growled.

"You know that was some sadistic shit right?"

The man beside him only smirked as he licked his lips. "What doesn't kill him can only make him tastier."

"Fuckin' psycho."

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**AN: This will be the last one for a while as things are picking up for me. Don't take the torture scene to heart, it's pretty tame compared to the stuff my brother likes to watch in movies and I just thought of the things that I wouldn't like to see. Itachi won't be having those fits too often, the one in the tree was deliberately triggered. **


	5. Chapter 5

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

**I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way**.

"Speaking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Demon"**

**Nakama**

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Uchiha Fugaku sat apart from the rest of his clan in a secret meeting room under the Nakano temple. To outsiders he was a silent, grim faced man who sat in the position allotted to the clan head. He rested in a posture that spoke of deep meditation. His arms were crossed and his legs were folded under him. His eyes were closed as he mulled over this latest report. What they were doing was a risky gamble but a vital one. So many futures, the destiny of the village, the ninja world and most importantly, in his mind, the destiny of the entire Uchiha Clan hinged on this feeble hope for success. To use Go terminology, they were plotting a double Atari. If one gambit failed then the other move would still be available to them.

"_But the cost…"_

He held his tears within him, the cold disgust and sickening hatred that he felt for himself and his actions. He remembered when he had first been told of Mikoto's pregnancy he had been overjoyed. He recalled the elation that he had felt knowing about the life that he had helped to bring into this world. Fugaku had felt for the first time in all the years since he had been inaugurated as leader, the determination to change the lot of the Uchiha Clan. The desire to shed the veil of mistrust that dishonored the sacrifices for Konoha, that had been made by his family, stirred him to appeal to his brethren for ideas.

He had not been alone in his desire to reconnect to Konoha. There were many angry dissenters who wished to break from the hidden village completely, but that was no longer a viable option. Try as the administration of Konoha might, there was no guarantee that the Uchiha Clan could not have obtained potentially crippling secrets about the village, as a founding clan it was a certainty. Breaking from konoha would mean war and the Uchiha clan had lost much of their financial and military capital since the old days. Even if the Uchiha Clan did have the same capability as they did in the time before the founding of Konoha, such a war between a single family and an established and organized military power would be suicide.

Most members were earnest in their desire to remain a part of the village. They simply wished to find a way to put an end to the hushed whispers and subtle discrimination. They were hailed as heroes even as seasoned members of their ninja clan endured forced loyalty tests. They displayed valor in the field of conflict on multiple occasions and had saved their comrades lives time and time again, yet they could not trust beyond the clan for every word spoken in confidence was reported. Every questionable act was pounced upon and examined by the Anbu. The Uchiha were subject to a cold war waged in the highest levels of power where no Uchiha was allowed to step foot in the halls of power, or attend to the Hokage as his personal guard, or join the Black Ops division of the Anbu.

Villagers and lower ninja clans called them Uchiha-sama in tones of respect and awe but those who were in the know referred to them by a different tone of voice. One tinged in fear and suspicion, seeing only the evils that could come from even the most innocent suggestion. A cynical, pessimistic view that mocked all they tried to accomplish, that challenged their faith, patience and most dangerously of all, their pride.

If the current state of affairs continued as they stood it was only a matter of time before those in command decided that they could no longer tolerate the existence of such danger so close to the heart of the great tree that is Konoha. Their only options were to strike first and be known as traitors or to somehow create a bridge between the Uchiha Clan and the rest of Konoha, a vital connection.

A bridge formed from members of the younger generation. A bridgehead named Uchiha Itachi.

Thus was Itachi's fate was sealed. As leader of the Uchiha clan this sacrifice was his to give. A child that would bear the hopes of the entire Uchiha Clan, Itachi was Uchiha Fugaku's sacrifice for the future that he had envisioned. Thirty Uchiha elders had given up their lives, their chakra, and their memories for this goal, their power was directed by another elder to craft a unique kinjutsu.

It was a hijutsu that was created shortly after the alliance of the Uchiha and Senjuu Clans. While the technique had gone unused since the clan members at the time of the founding of Konoha had felt that such a costly and dangerous technique was unnecessary. Subsequent generations of clansmen had modified the technique many times since then and the kinjutsu was now far different from the one recorded in the scroll of forbidden seals.

Not even the commander of Anbu Black Ops knew the true extent of what they had done to fortify the technique . There was an increase in the rate of survivability from one percent to a measly ten percent using Tsunade's recorded notes. The stability of the technique had been further increased by the inclusion of certain tissue and blood samples that had been stolen and preserved from the days before the creation of Konoha when the Uchiha Clan had been desperate to find some edge over their enemies.

The stabilization of the technique allowed for something more ephemeral than mere memory to be transferred, everything that had composed the spirits of Uchiha elders that willingly sacrificed themselves had gone to Itachi. Their stoicism, their will, their loyalty and most amazingly of all; their chakra natures had all been given to Itachi..

It was a technique that would give to the bearer the power to destroy either the Uchiha clan or Konoha. Fugaku would never forgive himself if Itachi turned against his clan but then there were a number of things that he could not forgive himself. Fugaku had looked up to some of those deceased men and women as his uncles and aunts, a few of them _were_ his uncles and aunts. It was their selfless act that moved Fugaku to train his son to the fullest extent possible, to harden his heart to Mikoto's pleas and surrender his son to the village. Even the Third Hokage who had always tried to be fair and balanced when dealing with Fugaku's clan had seen his actions as that of a cold man grasping for power at any cost, even at the expense of his son.

To a certain extent they were all correct. Correct that he desired power, the power to protect his family. Correct that he was as cold as ice, cold enough to cut all ties with his firstborn son and lay his trust in the hope that the spirit of the Uchiha Clan would eventually return his child to him. Correct in that the cost to Itachi was terrible, the daily police reports indicated that the Anbu had foiled multiple assassination attempts on his son and rumors existed of a bounty being placed on the sharingan eye of any unattached clan member.

Fugaku had not touched Mikoto since that day. He had observed how she became still at the remotest mention of her son. He had noticed the way her face went blank at even the slightest inference of Itachi's presence. Fugaku had known of the way that she never seemed to pay attention to any of the updates that he chose to reread at home yet it was one of the few times that she actively chose to bring the baby into his company. After Itachi, Fugaku had resolved to keep his distance from Sasuke.

His eyes followed every movement of the boy, every gurgle and kick was lovingly taken in and his wife had noticed. She had noticed his agony all along during the sealing of the Shinrabanshou within Itachi and had stood by his side. The sealing of the Kyuubi would always stand between them in Fugaku's mind but Mikoto was the wife of a ninja who was born into the prestigious Uchiha ninja clan. She understood sacrifice and pitied her husband almost as much as she loved him and her sons, she couldn't hate Fugaku any more than she hated herself and did the only thing that she could do, hold to the same lesson that she had once taught Itachi, nfinja _endure_.

Fugaku finished mulling over his thoughts on the recent report and again asked the reporting clansman.

"Are we certain that it is active? The activation of the hijutsu at this time was not within our projections of Itachi's development."

The military police officer nodded as he seriously replied.

"There is no doubt about it we have observed him practicing Oguno-sama's Tanami-niten-ryu."

"That could just be some leakage." An elder observed as he scratched his jaw, "An entire sword style is a bit much to be coherently absorbed in this way but it could still be explained as mental contamination."

Another elder spoke, the man was frowning slightly as he thought over his words.

"Mental contamination to that degree would result in obvious mental instability, psychosis or schizophrenia. Those people lived hard lives it would be obvious in his actions."

The spokesman for the group of officers assigned to watch over Itachi spoke up at this point.

"With all due respect, we have not seen any evidence of mental instability. Our investigation of Itachi's posture, habits, training, handwriting; and reactions to certain situations that we set up lead to the conclusion that the kinjutsu has somehow been activated within the boy."

A brief look of frustration crossed the man's features before clearing away.

"Due to the Hokage's injunction against direct contact, there is little opportunity for us to observe him at close range so we have no way of telling whether or not it was accidentally activated by Itachi-kun or by some outside stimulus. It seems that the Anbu have regarded this event as a natural result of our hijutsu."

"There's that at least." Murmured one of the clansmen in a soft voice, another person volunteered information. "It seems that Itachi is to be assigned his first C-rank mission tomorrow."

Fugaku sighed as he rubbed his chin, "Until Itachi unlocks his Sharingan there is little that we can do but watch and wait. Knowing Itachi we won't be made to wait long. At that time we will have the opportunity to investigate the effects of the Shinrabansho hijutsu."

"What of these rumors that someone is placing bounties on the Sharingan?" One of the clansmen at the back of the room asked.

Fugaku opened his eyes and looked upon the stoic faces arrayed before him. "I will bring my concerns to the Hokage, for now simply continue as you always have. The Hidden Cloud has had its eyes on gaining the Byakugan doujutsu for years. We are no stranger to the dangers presented by covetous outsiders. As for Itachi we will have to trust that the Anbu attachment assigned to him will be enough protection during this mission of his. Agreed?"

"Agreed!"

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A lone ninja was completing a morning ritual to the amusement and amazement of a few joggers and shop keepers in the early morning. Amusement on the part of those who were familiar with his antics, amazement on the part of those who realized just how difficult and dangerous young teen's current self-imposed punishment was. To be a ninja one must endure hardship. Failing twice to graduate and being sent back once. Chasing the back of a genius who seldom acted as if he even knew he had an eternal rival, and if said genius did acknowledge that there existed a threat to the honor of being number one; that irritatingly hip dude promptly forgot again. Maito Gai was a genius of hard work who knew what it meant to fail.

"Cheh! Your coolness just burns me up!".

"5990"

"5991"

"5992"

"5993"

"5994"

"59995"

"5996"

"5997"

"5998"

"5999"

"Yo! Gai! "

"_Aaaand." _

"6000"

"_Seishun!"_

At the top of an intra village electricity pole Maito Gai balanced on one thumb. His other hand had gone to stabilize a three hundred pound barrel of rocks gathered from around the village. Sweat poured from the fourteen-year olds face, staining his red headband with super absorbent qualities and making his aerodynamically stable green spandex fighting suit soggy and wet. His fingers were bleeding and the wooden pole was looking decidedly decrepit but Maito Gai never felt more self-satisfied. Anytime he did training that didn't kill him, instead of bringing him closer to his self-proclaimed goal of defeating his eternal rival, generally had a good effect on Maito Gai's temperament.

Recently he had called on a favor owed to him by his eternal rival also known as Hatake Kakashi, Copy-nin Kakashi, Sharingan Kakashi, You Monkey Bastard and That Hip Dude. By drawing lots it was decided that Kakashi would chose a challenge that would help determine which of them was the better ninja. It was also decided, by Gai, that if Gai lost then he would climb to the top of an electrical pole carrying a 300 pound barrel of rocks and perform six thousand vertical push-ups before dawn.

If he couldn't do that then he would run around the village three times, backward, blindfolded at top speed. If he couldn't do that then he would scale up and down the Hokage Mountain thrice with one hand tied behind his back, naked. And if he couldn't do that then the children of Konoha would probably end up traumatized from seeing his hairy butt Kakashi had dryly quipped.

"_Wahhhh! So hip! So cool! My rival is jealous of the power of my Gluteous Maximus!"_

In the end Kakashi had proposed a three day long match of hide and go seek. A game of exciting, for Gai, janken had determined that Gai would count to one hundred while Kakashi hid. It was only nearing the end of the third day and after several run-ins with the military police force over some Peeping Tom incidents that the young jounin had realized that Kakashi was nowhere to be found in Konoha.

A passing chunin gate guard had commented that Kakashi had been deployed on a long term mission in Snow Country and seemed to be eager to leave. Gai had contemplated trying to catch up to his rival before sunset but had been heartbreakingly forced to admit to not being strong or fast enough to wear down that three day lead in the space to four hours. On the upside of things, his current method of training would be a step in the direction of removing that weakness.

"Lost another bet to Kakashi, huh?"

Sarutobi Asuma, a fifteen year old special jounin stood lazily in the street below smoking a cigarette. Gai frowned and with a forceful shove tumbled down to the ground, landing on his feet, bracing the barrel in his arms. Asuma whistled in appreciation.

"Damn. That looks heavy." The youmg jounin gestured with a hand as he exhaled a puff of smoke.

Maito Gai's expression became smug at the words of praise but quickly soured as the haze of exhaled smoke engulfed his head. Flapping his hand before his face, the jounin admonished his colleague in a serious tone.

"My good comrade, it is most un-youthful to smoke at fifteen. I too know the pressures of wanting to be hip and cool but becoming addicted to cigarettes is a most unhealthy habit that will only smother the banked fires of your youth. If you are impressed by my feats of strength and fortitude know that it would not be possible for me without a set of tar free lungs. You cripple yourself unnecessarily my friend!"

Asuma blinked as he tried to come to terms with being scolded, advised and compared to Maito Gai in the same sentence. The freak had even struck a ridiculous pose, sticking his butt out and pointing at the sky. In the end it was settled when the pretty red eyed chunin that he had spotted going into a breakfast shop down the street began to leave.

"_Babes, my primary motivation in life. Thinking of motivations…"_

Putting out the cigarette in order to mollify the other jounin Asuma hurriedly explained to Gai his reasons for calling out to him.

"The Old Man wanted to see you, it seems a client requested you specifically and that you were to come to the meeting hall dressed to impress."

His task done Asuma hurried after his newest person of interest as Gai erupted in a sting of proclamations of glory and wonder at the awesome budding flower at the springtime of youth.

"_Seishun!" _

Dumping the barrel in an alleyway Maito Gai went about preparing himself for the assignment of an important mission. Without using the merest amount of chakra he leapt to the top of a building, racing toward the public bathhouses looking for an open one nearby. Already he was rehearsing the things that he would say, and trying to decide on how best to make an impressive entrance.

"_Am I going to guard a daimyo's daughter, or help to liberate a country? Perhaps I'll be called upon to fight an evil overlord. Hah Kakashi you can't beat this!"_

"_Seishun!"_

Minutes later a girlish scream rent the morning air.

In hindsight Gai really should have toned down his enthusiasm a little, but such youthful mistakes like the one that happed at the bathhouse on the way to the Hokage's office were simply a byproduct of living one's life in the springtime of youth.

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Yokohana Natsue and her sister Nase would later report that they had only gotten a good look at the lower body of the streaking pervert that had landed in the middle of their outdoor bath. Unfortunately, as the heavily blushing female military police officer had informed them, this long and that thick were not viable descriptions for a subject but she did agree to pass along their apartment address if the Uchiha ever caught up with the culprit. It seemed that the perpetrator had hurriedly left the bathhouse with a bleeding nose but the owner had been perturbed by the sight of blood and had washed away the precious samples that could have been used for tracking the pervert down.

Taking a surreptitious look at where her partner who was interrogating the bathhouse manager Uchiha Chinatsu leaned in closer to the victims. Placing her finger on her lower arm as a terminating line she asked again.

"Really, it was that big?"

"_Seishun!"_

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If mortification was a medicine to be bottled and sold Maito Gai would be a billionaire. Leaping like a crazy tree frog from roof to roof, Gai tried to put the incident out of his mind as he landed before the Public Administration building and sprinted full tilt toward the Mission Assignment Hall. He had been in such a hurry to clean up for the meeting with the Hokage that when he had arrived at the 24-hour bathhouse, Gai had simply chucked the entry fee at the manager like a hail of shuriken and for the sake of expedience had leapt over the wall to get to the water all the while ignoring the manager's indignant squawks.

He had quickly dived into the deep end of the pool, scrubbing his muscular body with the grainy sand that covered the bottom of the bathing pool as he swam toward the shallow end. His body had surfaced under a fresh spring at the shallow end vigorously scrubbing the sweat and dirt from his scalp before finally opening his eyes. What he saw froze him to the bone in shock.

Gai had came groin to face with a couple of sixteen year old twins. Little Gai came groin to face with a couple of _naked_ sixteen year old twins. Not even the cold water pouring down Maito Gai's back could dampen the somewhat inappropriately stoked fires of youth. In unison the two girls took in his stone hard pectorals, chiseled abdominals and after wandering a bit lower they unconsciously licked their lips as twin trickles of blood dribbled down their chins.

"_Seishun!"_

Now Gai was a healthy fourteen year old boy. Abnormally healthy once you considered that even his muscles had muscles. Still this was for now unexplored territory for the young jounin. Had someone else say, Asuma, Kakashi or the Gallant Jiraiya been in command of Gai's faculties and stamina in this particular scenario then Maito Gai the Sexy Ninja Doll would have become one of the fastest selling commodities in the Hidden Ninja Nations, once a paper bag was put over his head. Unfortunately, while he would in the future correct this oversight with a lesser degree of success, with these self-same twins and a rather kinky police officer with a shibari fetish, Maito Gai the Sex Object simply wasn't ready yet.

So he screamed, not a manly scream, but the awkward, high pitched, feminine scream that only some girls, boys in the awkward phase of puberty and recently castrated men are capable of. Really, with the kind of tight clothes that Gai favored it could actually have been either one of the latter two possibilities, but for the benefit of doubt Gai's youth could be charitably blamed for the way that he scrambled back across the pool, and dressed with impressive speed even as he fled the female section of the bathhouse screaming all the way.

Fortunately, Maito Gai was used to recovering quickly from such awkward situations; unfortunately it meant that he encountered such embarrassing situations with great frequency. The only thing that one could do was suck it up, tuck it in and get going. Gai made a note to remember that last nugget of wisdom when he got a genin team of his own.

Skidding around a corner, Gai entered the atrium out side of the mission assignment office. The Chunin in charge of guarding the doors realized that Gai wasn't slowing down and with panicked eyes quickly swung open the doors to the room just as Maito Gai initiated Fashionably Hip Tactical Combat Entry Number Three.

"_Now is the time, Explode My Springtime of Youth!" _

"**DYNAMIC ENTRY!!" **

Assistant Director Honda Mizuno hadn't had the same level of experience using ninja in film like Director Mikuno did. He knew that there were people who did some simply incredible things of course but he doubted whether any ninja village had someone that was ready and willing to perform the role that they had in mind. The Old Man had shrugged off Mizuno's doubts and demanded that they head on to Konoha after being laughed out of Suna.

He had gone slack jawed when the Hokage simply nodded at Mikuno's outrageous request and stared in shock as the man had sent off another ninja on an errand to find someone. The Director had then turned to haggling with a chunin over the price of a light escort mission for a genin team to accompany and protect the movie personnel and equipment. Apparently two C-rank missions were cheaper than a single B-rank which the two of Director Mikuno's requests, if combined would have been.

They had brought in a genin team and while their jounin instructor seemed capable to Honda's admittedly inexperienced eye there was no way in hell that the smallest of the three kids could have been older than his grandchildren. The tallest boy seemed to understand his dubious look and had leveled a most unnerving glare at Honda with pale lavender eyes. The nervous looking girl wearing face-paint seemed to be about to say something when she stopped and turned her head sharply toward the entrance behind them.

Honda's eyes were directed to the doorway at precisely the correct moment to see a figure sail through. He was dresses in a forest green spandex bodysuit covered partially by a dull green flack jacket, and orange legwarmers. He wore his hitai-ite as a belt and the sole of blue shoes could be seen as the young man glided through the air in a ballistic arc until sliding to a rest before the assignation table. It was just what Mikuno had asked for and Honda did a double take as the Hokage gave him a look that seemed to say, 'See, I told you so'.

Director Mikuno just clapped his hands together and said, "Perfect!"

Thus began the career of Maito Gai, Movie Star.

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He wanted to scrub out his eyes. Hideo hadn't expected much when his team had first met up that morning. Granted, the Uchiha seemed to be more dexterous than usual but that was countered by the fact that he seemed to be more annoying to Hideo. Itachi also seemed to have developed a penchant for giving up just when it seemed that he was turning out to be more than just a bratty kid. After supervising Neji's morning training exercise Hideo had arrived early at team nine's now customary meeting place at the sweet tea shop behind training field number eight.

The dog-girl Suzume had arrived next, followed by their jounin instructor Murasaki Moriko with Itachi in tow. _"She probably had to fetch him first before coming here."_ Thought Hideo derisively. In his opinion the ninja life was not for those without the discipline to rise with the coming of dawn. The truth of the matter, if Hideo had known it, was that Itachi had been doing some warm up exercises nearby when Moriko had encountered him on her way to meet with the rest of team nine.

Hideo had grown weary of the constant stream of D-rank missions even though he would never admit it out loud like Suzume had. The _look_ that Murasaki-sensei had given the girl had cowed them enough to temporarily stop even Hideo's snarky comments and Itachi's baiting words. They had gone on missions approximately four times a week, most of which lasted until midday and on the days that they performed two tasks, they would be working well into the afternoon. Barring other engagements Murasaki-sensei usually gave them Saturday off and they spent all of Tuesday and half of Thursday doing training exercises.

Murasaki sensei seemed to be a genjutsu specialist with a particular talent for casting powerful tactile and optical illusions with her field scroll and a paint brush hidden in the handle of a tanto. Their training usually involved dispelling or reversing powerful illusions cast on themselves or on each other. At times during courier missions within the village and shopping trips, she would create an illusion that a certain street existed where none did or erase vital markers that would lead them to the places that they were looking for.

As a result of this training they were quickly developing a resistance to all but the most powerful illusionary techniques and even then Itachi seemed to always be able to recognize when they were trapped in an illusion much faster than even the keen senses of Nadeshiko who was learning to use her other senses to counter Murasaki-sensei's scent nullifying poison. Their training was shaping them into an excellent scouting and espionage team and Itachi most of all was thriving.

This seemed to please Moriko-sensei greatly and on the days when she had Suzume and Hideo spar she taught Itachi several advanced techniques that the others had had difficulty learning. In the area of physical training Hideo seemed to be a superior hand to hand combatant to Itachi and Suzume using his jyuken to great advantage. He had also developed the ability pierce most of Moriko-sensei's medium level genjutsu, including the Kori Shinchuu no jutsu, the technique that disrupted a persons sense of direction causing them to walk in circles.

Moriko-sensei struck Hideo as a serious, no-nonsense individual who demanded excellence from her students and trained them relentlessly in the areas of information gathering, dispelling illusions, and to a lesser degree strength and endurance training with a grueling schedule of two missions a day one of which always seemed to leave them in a state of exhaustion before forcing them to use their minds to escape some illusionary conundrum that drew upon their combined talents in order to escape.

All in all Hideo approved of his teacher's training methods and felt his new strength pass through into his morning training sessions against his father. As a result when Moriko- sensei had informed them that they would be assigned a C-rank mission today Hideo had been pleased if somewhat worried about Itachi's ability to keep up in a more demanding mission.

Ignoring Suzume's joyful whooping in tandem with Nadeshiko's barks, Hideo had tried to read Itachi's expression. As always when dealing with the enigmatic boy Itachi's face was closed to Hideos talents, he neither expressed happiness nor apprehension. If one were to examine Itachi's posture It would seem as if he was somewhat bored. Not for the first time, Hideo privately wondered at Itachi's ever present equanimity and just how the younger boy managed to maintain it.

"_Itachi,"_ He thought, _"Do you, even care?"_

Hideo had followed their sensei to the mission assignment hall where they had met their client, a grey haired man in his mid-fifties, named Fujisaki Mikuno. The man was a movie director and needed a team of genin to guard his equipment and workers from attacks from bandits while on location in Tatami Country, a mountainous region adjacent to Grass Country. Apparently Hideo's team was being thrown in as part of a discount since Director Mikuno, as his assistant called him, had paid extra for a specific jounin to serve as a body guard and body double for martial arts film mega star Xiao Wulong. The man was a famous martial artist originally trained in Earth Country and was known for two things. His outrageous stunts and the high body count of his stunt doubles. Whichever Jounin that they picked would have to be a taijutsu fanatic and capable of taking a ridiculous amount of punishment as well as demeaning treatment from the famously temperamental star.

Just as Hideo was glaring at the irritatingly condescending Assistant Director, he noticed that something had caught Suzume's attention. Activating his byakugan Hideo looked through the back of his skull and from that unique perspective witnessed the most disgusting display that he had ever seen in his life.

"**DYNAMIC ENTRY!!"**

"_This is a jounin?" _

Flying through the doorway in a textbook leaping kick that must have been chakra enhanced, came Maito Gai, sailing through the air and passing over Itachi's head to land before them in a most ridiculous pose. One hand was held out to his side in a 'thumbs up' gesture. The other hand rested on a hip above an obscenely jutting butt. The wind of his passage had tousled the teen's bowl cut hairdo as he closed his eyes and unleashed a sparkling, toothy smile that could be seen in the reflection of Director Mikuno's glasses.

"_Ugh!" _

Beside him, Hideo felt Suzume stiffen.

"_Oh no…"_

He could see her eyes go wide as she took in the shiny hair, sparkling teeth, and shiny green spandex.

"_Oh f#!#! No."_

Hideo cringed at the gentle sigh that came from the girl.

"Kawai."

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On the morning of her first C rank mission Suzume had completed her new morning ritual of meditating and filtering out the various sounds and scents that the fresh morning air brought to her hyperactive senses. After her conversation with Moriko-sensei, Suzume had asked her mother for help and had undergone a series of exercises aimed at training her sensitivity to external stimuli and the amount of chakra that she fed to her sensory organs.

She had made significant progress in controlling her ability to keep track of and catalogue the different scent, sights and sounds that at one time had been a mere distraction on the edges of her consciousness that occasionally surged and broke her focus with small idiotic things like the light reflecting off of a fly's wings.

She still had some ways to go and probably would never ever completely surrender her love of vibrant, passionate colors. _"And the Sparkles."_ Suzume, however was no longer deeply enthralled by Murasaki-sensei's eyes especially once she had learned to counter and dispel several of Moriko's mid-level genjutsu. Suzume greatly enjoyed her days doing D-ranks because most of the ones that they were assigned involved outdoor work which Nadeshiko loved. While she would have liked to go traveling across Fire Country with her family as she did during her days as an infant, Suzume knew that at the rate that they were going it was only a matter of time until her team was assigned a C-rank mission.

The path that Suzume had taken to team nine's training ground was a seldom used forest trail. Devoid of people it was a location that provided ample practice for Suzume to try to pick out the various animal tracks and the scents of all the creatures that frequented the area. Lately she had been seeing signs that someone was using a spot in the nearby training area number eight. The wind carried faint sounds of fists hitting flesh and the clashing of wood.

The scent carried on the wind was the slightly musky aroma that uniquely belonged to Itachi. Suzume paused in her trek briefly as she also picked up another fainter smell, almost as if someone had covered one scent with something bland. She mused upon the problem in confusion before suddenly realizing just what it was. Channeling some more chakra into her nose she focused intensely on the suppressed scent until she placed it, the aroma of clean human skin and crushed violets. Murasaki-sensei was with Itachi. Satisfied at having solved the problem Suzume journeyed on toward her team's meeting place.

Predictably the first one to arrive there had been Hideo. Suzume had even managed to come a full fifteen minutes early. As she put Nadeshiko on the ground She idly and truth be told, enviously wondered just how long it took for Hideo to fix his hair, train, and take a thorough bath from the scent of things. Factoring in the time it took to arrive early at the out of the way meeting area at seven. Hideo must be rising before dawn.

Suzume risked another look at Hyuuga Hideo's flowing shoulder-length hair one final time before turning her eyes elsewhere before the grouchy Hyuuga could make some snide comment. She despairingly tugged at one of her shaggy locks before pulling at the edges of her green wool cap. Channeling chakra into her nostrils she confirmed for herself what Nadeshiko had been barking to her. Itachi's scent was growing stronger as he approached from upwind. She would make note to tell him to be mindful of his approaches but how could she phrase her advice without sounding like a pervert? She could just see it now.

"_Um, Itachi, you smell…nice, not __**nice**__, nice but as much as I like the way you smell… if you're trying to avoid being sniffed out you've got to factor in the direction of the wind. Or ask Moriko-sensei to lend you her brand of scent erasing soap…She smells nice too." _

Suzume cringed.

"_Yeah, smooth."_

Her worries were forgotten though when Moriko-sensei began to approach with Itachi calmly walking beside her. While outwardly calm, Itachi's scent had gained a slightly, expectant and excited nuance to it. Suzume fretted inwardly and fidgeted until Hideo leveled an irritated glare at her. Nadeshiko whined noticing her partner's anxiety and Suzume picked up the puppy and tucked her in her sweater's stomach pouch.

It seemed that all her worries were over nothing as Moriko-sensei informed them that she had handed in a request for a C-rank mission the day before. Nadeshiko and Suzume's mode brightened considerably as she whooped for joy with Nadeshiko in her hands while walking back to the village center.

"Yay!"

"Arf!"

"Yippee!"

"Yip! Arf!"

Once she had calmed down a little Suzume blushed. Her actions certainly weren't as lady-like as she would have wished but these days as her strength grew she had actually been feeling more and more energized. Hideo was glaring at her again but as long as Murasaki-sensei didn't mind it was alright to get a little hyperactive from time to time and she quietly said that as Hideo continued to glare.

The Hyuuga only snorted and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Bipolar."

Further arguments were curtailed as team nine entered the Public Administration building and were informed by a chunin on duty that the Hokage had assigned them a mission. Upon entering the Mission Assignment Hall Suzume's senses roamed the room for any threats or suspicious individuals just as Murasaki-sensei and her mother had been teaching her. To their far left was another team consisting of an Aburame, an Uchiha and a genin whose clan she did not recognize, probably a Yagyu or Yokohana. There were other genin teams there but Suzume took special note of this one as she remembered two of the boys from her graduation class.

Another thing that also drew Suzume's attention was the aura of hostility and the smell of pheromones that indicated antagonism like a chained dog snarling at a stranger. It wasn't quite like Killing Intent that Moriko-sensei had shown them but it was enough to make her figurative hackles rise and cause Nadeshiko to growl softly. The source of the antagonistic scent was the eleven year-old Uchiha that was staring at Itachi. The hostility confused Suzume.

"_Um, aren't they like, family?" _

It was a strange concept for someone like Suzume who had grown up in the close knit clan structure of the Inuzuka clan. Mothers and fathers were shared as need be and her relatives all look out for their young ones. Rivalries and exploding tempers were common at such close proximity but what she was seeing here was different from competitive fury or momentary irritation. This was, this was…Hatred.

"_Couldn't be."_

Suzume dismissed the thought as her needing more training in understanding the nuances of people's scents. Maybe the kid just had gas. Why would anyone hate Itachi? Although Suzume had indeed begun to notice the average villagers seeming abhorrence of Itachi, the presence of the military police and their Sensei had dampened their enthusiasm for shunning the boy. All in all Suzume never truly understood the true depth of hatefulness that was daily leveled against Itachi.

"_Maybe he heard about our C-rank, looks like someone is on diaper duty."_

And they were, if the smell of baby powder and formula was anything to judge by. An elderly woman stood next to the team and was handing their Sensei, a man with a jagged scar on one cheek, what looked like a shopping list. Held in the woman's arms was a small gurgling bundle with a small patch of blond hair. Her hearing identified the infant as a one year old Namikaze Naruto.

She turned her attention to her teammates one of whom was attempting to glare a hole in forehead of their client. Suzume was a about to speak up when the sound of thudding footfalls and a strong earthy scent reached her ears and nose. Her head whipped to the side as she focused her eyes on the door.

"_Somebody's approaching…fast!" _

She vaguely sensed Hideo's veins throb as he activated his Byakugan when the newcomer arrived in a seriously flashy way.

Shooting through the opened doorway in an awesome display of strength, balance, speed and technique had come a fourteen year old boy clad in a skintight, green spandex bodysuit. A blue sandal foot, connected to a leg covered by an orange leg-warmer, passed over Itachi's head. The passage of the figure ruffled the young boy's hair with enough force to cause a few strands to separate from his scalp and fall to the floor.

"**DYNAMIC ENTRY!!"**

It was certainly a vision. That manly form, a frame stacked with rippling muscles. The wind of his passage tousles the boy's hair in an almost dashing manner. In size and stature the new arrival could have passed for someone two to three years older. As Suzume watched the boy land in front of her she took in the shiny hair, teeth and the play of light over his muscular contours. She never loved green spandex more than in that moment.

While Hideo audibly gagged Suzume stiffened as her eyes raptly took in Maito Gai the Bun's of Steel. With a soft sight that unnerved both her teammate and Sensei, Suzume muttered.

"Kawai."

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It was called Tanami-Shuuha niten-ryu which literally meant the Eternal Wave twin sword style. The memory's original possessor had originally learned the style from multiple battles with a mysterious swordsman from the Land of Water. To an outsider it seemed that Itachi's makeshift bokken was blurring in some complicated pattern. The truth was that there were only nine basic points of attack. Cuts to either side of the neck, underarms, and stomach, in addition to stabs to the eyes, heart, below the sternum and groin were meticulously trained.

What had set the technique apart was that each movement was designed to flow together in literally hundreds of thousands of permutations. The style could be performed with one sword or two, it didn't matter. The simple flowing and sometimes whip like movements could sometimes lull the sharingan into complacency and was deceptively difficult to counter.

Itachi commanded his clones to come at him again. They fell from the canopy, dashed out of the low-lying foliage, erupted from underground and dashed at him above ground. If a snapshot of the moment could be taken one would see a crowd of shadow clones frozen in the act of leaping at their original in a single crushing wave.

Itachi's body seemed to remain motionless but on closer inspection one would find that in that moment His hands and arms seemed to have disappeared. Itachi was obscured in a cloud of smoke and when he appeared again his eyes were closed as his mind took in the memories of his clones and he analysed them trying to find a flaw in his technique or a was to make his movements more efficient. The bokken held in his fist had been worn smooth from repeated collisions with cloned bodies and warm from the friction caused by being swung through the air at high speeds.

Itachi opened his eyes and was about to summon more clones when he felt something. Maintaining an outward air of calm he searched his mind and senses for a clue when he realized what had put him on alert. The wind was blowing and shifting the branches of the leaves, nut there was a patch of shadow and light that didn't move with the swaying of the branches three meters to his right. Bringing his bokken into a ready stance he joined his hands together.

"Kai!"

Already in motion Itachi slashed at movement on his right, smashing his bokken against a log. Twirling the weapon in his hands as he leapt to one side and spun, Itachi brought the tip of his practice sword to point at Moriko-sensei. The woman smiled at Itachi proudly as she held her hands in a calming gesture of surrender.

"You did well to sense me Itachi-kun, you certainly seem to have a talent for genjutsu. Now come, we have a special day ahead of us. Yesterday I requested that Hokage-sama reserve a C-rank mission for us."

With that said Itachi followed after Moriko-sensei. Outwardly calm his mind contemplated the prospect of finally being allowed to leave the village, the first occasion since the sealing of the Kyuubi. As he followed behind his teacher Itachi allowed himself to feel the thrill of excitement at something new and unexpected.

He listened quietly as Moriko-sensei repeated to his teammates what she had told him. Even Hideo seemed pleased and Suzume spent a few minutes jumping up and down with Nadeshiko in her arms. Turning away from the group Itachi gave a light smile at his teammate's antics.

Suzume had surprised him greatly with her skills and abilities, it was a first for Itachi to meet someone who could hear and smell as well as he did although he usually did his best not to let on to this fact. The acuity of his senses and the razor-sharp intelligence that Evil Itachi often wielded to such devastating effect, granted Itachi an enourmous advantage in the field of genjutsu.

Sometimes Itachi even had to wait until Suzume realized that an illusion had been cast before canceling it rather than be forced to explain how _he_ had smelt the difference before her. All in all Itachi got along well with Suzume, annoyed the hell out of Hideo and obeyed Murasaki-sensei to the last letter of her word and no further. In a nutshell He did his work as excellently as possible with minimal effort and few unnecessary actions.

According to Itachi's count, Team Nine had completed thirty-one D-rank missions with a ninety-seven percent success rate if one counted the first mission that Moriko-sensei had placed them under her upgraded illusion, Magen Banten Kori Shinchuu no jutsu. They had been walking in to walls and doors, each other and even several bystanders until well into the evening. Oh yes, Evil Itachi was certainly keeping score.

The boys of Team Nine didn't speak much. Not much else could have been expected from a stoic Hyuuga and an aloof Uchiha placed on the same team. When they did speak their conversations usually included some taunt or clever verbal barb directed at the other. Aside from those times the most loquacious person in the group was Suzume who was constantly asking Murasaki-sensei questions or babbling to Nadeshiko or to herself about one subject or another. It made her look like a ditz or as one of their clients affectionately called her, 'that silly girl'.

The truth of the matter was that all members of Suzume's team paid at least some heed to the tone of her voice if not the content of her words. With her advanced senses Suzume acted as an early warning system for her teammates who took their cue to act from the tall girl's body language as to whether or not to activate the Byakugan and prepare for battle.

And so it was that when Suzume suddenly jerked to one side Itachi would have known that someone was headed toward them quickly even if he couldn't have sensed it for himself. Itachi had been listening with interest to the conversation between the man named Directo Mikuno and the Hokage.

Apparently Mikuno was skeptical that there was really a person available who could drag a train cart up a hill with his bare teeth while fighting off six evil ronin while trying to protect a princess. The man seemed skeptical yet strangely hopeful especially when he asked if the ninja in question had any issues with jumping over chasms and potentially falling to his death.

"I want a Hero. A strong and courageous champion, a yuusha, I need someone who can leap fourteen feet through the airin a single bound and strike a heroic pose!"

At those words the doors to the Mission Assignment Hall burst open and a figure flashed over Itachi's head. The young Uchiha estimated that the distance from the doorway to where he stood at the other end of the hall to be a little less than fourteen feet.

"**DYNAMIC ENTRY!!"**

_"Got your wish."_ Itachi idly thought as dark eyes studied the shining form before him. Dark eyebrows frowned as a few strands of hair wafted toward the ground. It would take a while but a few helpful comments from Evil Itachi to the Yokohana twins when he later learned that they were looking for a man in green spandex would provide more than enough entertainment to make up for being forced to stand in the presence of that disgusting pose.

In the background he faintly heard Suzume sigh and the sound of a gurgling baby voice say, "Da'n'mi En'eee!!"

"No young master, please ignore that strange young man."

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**AN: It took a while to write this chapter since it was more than double the length of what I usually do. The Shinrabansho is described as a kinjutsu and a hijutsu because that's what it is. A kinjutsu is a forbidden technique and a Hijutsu is a techniques whose junction is a secret.**

**About Suzume and Hideo, Suzume's name means sparrow and she's a very flighty person. I imagined her to be a cross of inner Sakura's humor and outer Sakura's insecurity. She's actually a pretty girl but falls short in her own estimation of just what pretty is. No long flowing locks or curls or perms, her hair is a lot like Inuzuka Tsume, all spiky and shaggy, her face is softer though and she could be quite beautiful in the future in a very feral sort of way. She likes to dress down since the last time she dressed up she wore a frilly pink dress that. Just. Didn't. Look. Right.**

**Hideo's name means excellent man and he knows it. I think I took the name from one of the producer's name and stuck with it. Hideo is a cross between the best and worst parts of Neji and Hinata. He's extremely capable but because he judges himself so harshly he often falls short of his self-imposed standard of perfection. His skills are good enough for his family but he feels that he's doing something wrong because no-one is complaining.**

**Gai is just Gai, Gai does as Gai is and that's that. TTFN. **


	6. Chapter 6

What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.

I** don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way.**

"Speaking"

_"Thinking"_

**"Demon"**

Ekusasaizu

Ekusasaizu

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"Itachi-kun!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Itachi-kun!!"

"Gai-sensei!!"

"Itachi-kun!!"

"Gai-sensei!!"

"Let our youth overflow!"

A great foamy white spurt flew high into the air before crashing back down upon the two boys who held one another in a great sweaty, manly hug that was at once tender yet hard. The water washed over the rocks and flowed back into a sea colored by the orange and pale-gold highlights of the light reflected by the morning sun. Their silhouettes were outlined by a sparkling glare as their shadows stretched out beneath them.

"_Seishun!"_

Murasaki Moriko, jounin sensei to team nine consisting of, Inuzuka Suzume, Hyuuga Hideo and Uchiha Itachi; was beginning to turn a little green in the face as she pushed aside the disturbing mental picture that had come upon her as she watched joint physical training between her team and the self-proclaimed eternal rival, self-proclaimed dashingly youthful, self-proclaimed green beast of Konoha. It wasn't as if Moriko was unaware or disparaging of the young jounin's skill. The kid was a little spastic but essentially a well rounded, determined and intelligent ninja. Of his skills Moriko had no issue, of his mannerism and habits, well she'd seen ninja that encased themselves in cocoons and mutated into vastly different forms, so Maito Gai's antics weren't a problem. It was the fact that Itachi seemed to have taken everything that Gai said at face value.

"_O-Kami-sama!"_

She had just returned from The director's room where she had been arranging the time at which the film crew would begin traveling. She had also spent time learning about the different problems that could occur and procedures for protecting different types of equipment. Since these were things that she could do herself, Moriko had left her nonplussed team with a rather excitable Gai who had offered to help train them when she had mentioned their need for better physical conditioning.

"Don't worry sempai!" He had said, "If they can't do a thousand push ups in a half-hour then they'll do two thousand lunges with each leg, if they can't do that, then they'll go for a short jog, backward on their hands, if they can't do that, then they'll run a four legged race while carrying a three hundred pound log!"

She had wanted to say something but the dawning look of horror on those sweet little genin faces was just too cute. It wasn't like Gai would really force them to use the self-imposed rule, would he?

What she had found upon returning to her team was Nadeshiko lying on her side exhausted with Suzume and Hideo on their hands and knees looking on incredulously as Itachi and Gai skipped and hopped in place in an alternating series of jumping-jacks, squats, push ups, lunges and pull-up jumps. Perhaps more unsettling to his teammates was the fact that Itachi was currently wearing a combination navy blue spandex tank-top and pants, over the tank-top was a bright yellow wife-beater with the words, 'Daikon is good for my colon' stenciled on the front. On his arms and legs were bright yellow wristbands and legwarmers. Wearing a bland look on his face in spite of Moriko's unabashed horror, Itachi hopped in place on one leg as he waved to her.

"Yahoo! Itachi-kun your youthful stamina shines through! As a reward you and your friends will now switch to a thousand punches and kicks!"

Suzume groaned at Gai's words and fell on her face, her butt was stuck comically in the air. Hideo gamely tried to stand but his efforts were for naught as black spots began to spin at the edges of his vision and he keeled backward and fell to the ground in a fit of lightheadedness. Moriko immediately made her way over to her collapsed students and reaching into her backpack withdrew a flask of water. Pouring some on Hideo's and Suzume's heads she waited until they came awake before commanding them to share the water in the flask.

As Moriko took in Suzume's awed expression and Hideo's sullen look as they gazed at Itachi who was still going, she decided to call Gai's training session to an end. It didn't escape her notice that even though Maito Gai seemed to be panting slightly from this 'light' exercise Itachi looked as calm and composed as he always did, directing a slightly bemused look at her as if to ask, '_Over so soon?'_

Long before Moriko first encountered Itachi training on his own she had known that he did a lot of self-training before meeting with his team, enough in fact to leave the seven and a half year old boy slightly exhausted during missions. She hadn't spoken up since Itachi had always completed the work allotted to him, even if he did so while giving a minimum of effort. Seeing that Itachi capable of withstanding five hours of Maito Gai's brutal training regime even at hal-pace Moriko wondered about the boy's stamina. She wondered just how hard Itachi must have been training in order to look slightly exhausted during training and missions.

"_This must be a side-effect of having the Kyuubi sealed inside. His senses and stamina seem to have been heightened. I wouldn't be surprised if his chakra capacity was larger than mine or even Gai's. He hasn't had an opportunity to bleed off his excess energy since arriving in Wakazi town with us so he's giving his all." _

Itachi seemed to finally notice the looks that Hideo and his Sensei were giving him. Trotting lightly over to sit on Suzume's right, Itachi lightly used his wrist band to mop up a non-existent drop of sweat on his forehead. "Whew!" He sighed, although his tone seemed to be more bored than exhausted. Carefully looking away from his teammate and jounin instructor he blandly said, "That was kind 'a exhausting."

Deciding not to bring up the matter of Itachi's unusual stamina Moriko pointed at his clothes and asked in a restrained manner. "What is that, and where did you get it?"

Itachi blinked as he slowly took in her question looked at what currently passed for his clothes and then, predictably in Moriko's opinion, pointed over to Maito Gai and with a dry voice said. "He did it."

Oblivious to the undercurrent of distaste flavoring the conversation Gai placed his hands on his hips, threw his head back and laughed deep, boisterous chuckles. The sun glinted off of his hair and perfect teeth as the glare seemed to awaken Suzume, who fell onto her side with blades of grass in her mouth. "HA, HA, HA, AHA! I see that you have discovered the wonders of SPANDEX Moriko-sempai." Gai said.

"I asked him for training tips." Itachi interjected.

Striking a bodybuilder's pose Gai winked at her as he continued." A sleek, form fitting, battle suit that allows one to enter into battle completely unhindered yet, it provides protection from the elements! It's even better than going nude!"

Hideo shuddered at the thought as a grass filled puddle of drool formed under Suzume's cheek.

"He said it was very fashionable too." Itachi blandly added.

"Fortunately we arrived at a bargain store that was having a most auspicious sale." Gai boomed.

"They were giving them away for free, they said that they couldn't get rid of them quickly enough." Itachi commented.

"Can you BELIEVE that they sold them at such a mark down? I got four bales for Itachi-kun and myself."

"Thank you Gai-sense!"

"You're welcome Itachi-kun!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Itachi-kun!"

"Gai-sensei!!"

"Itachi-kun!!"

"Gai-sense-urk!!"

"Err, Urk?"

The world lurched for Itachi as Moriko-sensei pulled him away from the gradually approaching Gai by his collar. He recovered easily and hid a smile at the slightly panicked look and slight blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. With a forced smile she waved off the disappointed Gai and gestured to her other two students to carry on with their training. As Gai's enthusiastic voice began to boom to a chorus of two strangled groans and a high-pitched whine, Itachi smirked. "_Got out of training with Maito Gai early and still learned some useful exercises."_

"_Heh, Evil Itachi."_

"Itachi-kun, I think its time we take about proper ninja fashion." Moriko-sensei purred sweetly. Turning to look at him with a strangely fanatical and extremely unnerving look the older teen grinned as her eyes roamed over Itachi's body in a manner that left him feeling exposed and somewhat dirty. "It seems that I can't trust your sense of fashion."

"_Oh, Oh…"_

Leaning toward the nervous boy she said. "We're going shopping!"

"_Nooooooooooooooo! Damn you Evil Itachi!!" _

Evil Itachi was so evil he sometimes didn't even spare himself.

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Lee Wu Fong fell through the air with a sharp whistling sound the hilt of the great mystical blade of Wu Dong was clasped in his right hand as he slowly began to free the weapon from its sheath that was on his back.

"Dashi!" He screamed as his form plummeted from the moonlit sky. The blade of Wu Dong, Shikyoutengu no Tenyou no Tsurugi was a six foot long zanbatou or special cavalry cutting sword. The tale of its creation was legendary.

_**Thirty minutes earlier.**_

Once, the Great Crimson Emperor of Edowa was beset by entreaties from his subjects in the borderlands begging him to slay a most fearsome foe. A monstrous and evil dragon known as Daikaiteitengu and a horde of lesser monsters were attacking the outer provinces of the Crimson Emperor's empire.

The nobles of the inner provinces who lived at the Emperors court had made light of the problem posed by the rampaging monsters and had sought to immerse the Emperor in petty delights. The First Minister at the time, however, knew of the great calamity and aided the lords of the outer provinces in securing the ear of the Emperor.

Incensed at the feckless natures of his court nobles the Crimson Emperor commanded that the court nobles contribute from their own purses towards the creation of a dragon slaying sword.

Eager to regain imperial favor, the nobles jockeyed for position with each other racing to be the first to provide the emperor with his sword. Time after time nobles presented the Crimson Emperor with jewel encrusted tanto, wakazashi, katana, chokuto, o-katana, and o-dachi. Swords made from silver and pale gold, swords encrusted with emeralds and rubies set into the blades themselves, even a sword made from glass and fine-spun silk was set before the emperor.

Blade upon blade was inspected. The body of one of the rampaging monsters that had been killed and brought to the capital by Imperial Youjutsusha was lain over a rock of iron ore. Blade upon blade was tested against the beast's flesh and blade upon blade, each failed. Swords of silver and gold, warped and twisted upon limp grey limbs, swords with blades encrusted with emeralds and rubies snapped into pieced upon armored torso, swords of glass and fine spun silk shattered ineffectually upon bared neck. Deeper and deeper the Crimson Emperor's rage grew until he declared that a chest of ryo, the combined shattered remnants of all the failed swords, and the honorary position of Second Minister would go to the one who brought the Emperor a true dragon-slaying sword.

Days passed and the people despaired, a week had passed since the Crimson Emperor's proclamation. Then, one day, a gaunt old man with gnarled and twisted limbs, shambled into the Imperial Court. The Court Nobles sneered at the man clad in rags and dismissed both him and the muscular youth who followed behind him carrying a large oblong parcel.

After six months of waiting, this old blacksmith had finally been allowed to breathe the same air as the Crimson Emperor, though even the disciplined Majordomo cringed at the elder's disgusting clothes and coarse manner. Sketching an awkward bow that was mimicked by the flushing youth to the gentle tittering of courtesans, father and son at last held court with the Emperor of Edowa.

"My lord, yer moss' gracious emmenens', I be hearing the call for a sword that can kill a dragon." The wizened elder's voice drifted in the air in a thin but strident dialect. Gesturing to his son the old man had the boy present the blade wrapped in oilskin. Six feet long from the sharply angled tip of the single edged blade to the end of the hilt wrapped in tough sharkshin, the weapon was unadorned.

Without festoons of jewelry the weapon was wedge shaped along its length and was three inched thick and a foot in breadth at its widest point. Looking more like a slab of metal with a sharpened edge, the nobles and even the First Minister were unimpressed. The court nobles immediately began laughing seeking to mock the old man and deride his weapon.

"That thing," They said, "Was absurdly long and ugly."

Another noble, the one who had presented a glass sword, spoke up. "That ugly rippling design," He said, looking at the deep blue wave like patterns along the blade. "Those discolored flecks that look like waves crashing upon a shore are obviously a cosmetic addition that compromised the strength of the blade."

The foppish man smiled as the youth beside the old vagabond bristled at the insult and barely held his tongue. The courtesan had hoped to be rid of the uncouth even if deliciously strapping young lad and his intelligible troglodyte of a forebear. The old man cowed his son with a glare and to the gathered Generals he spoke. "I be hearing tha' dem dragons be mighty big? Den yous be needin' a mighty big sword, neh? "

The court was in uproar until the First Minister commanded silence upon threat of violence. At his direction the sword was placed upon a stand in the Imperial Courtyard that creaked under the strain of supporting the blade's weight and needed to be reinforced. By three more pairs of stands along the weapon's length. With the Crimson Emperor's leave, a heavily perfumed corpse of a monster was brought out on the iron boulder. Then the General of the West approached to lift the sword.

He failed to lift it.

This caused a murmur to pass through the crowd of nobles. The general of the West was a squat man five feet tall whose muscles were impressively muscled even in his fiftieth year. The seated generals laughed raucously until the gasping General gestured for someone else to try to lift the blade. The smirking General of the East, a young and tall man in his mid-twenties stepped up to the challenge. His body stood tall at six feet, impressive for that era and he was the second tallest of the generals. With a confident look, both of his hands grasped the hilt and heaved.

He failed to lift it or even budge the weapon.

The murmur became a sea of whispers rising and swelling in the wind. The vindicated General of the West called back the straining General of the East before he hurt himself. The portly General of the South stepped forward and even the best that he could do was the shift the blade slightly. Finally, the Great General of the North who had served under his Imperial Majesty's father stepped forth. At seventy-eight years the white haired man had lost none of his six and a half feet of height, nor had the strength faded from the great muscular chest that looked more like a slab of veined marble, or the arms and hands that could snap a bull's neck. He stepped before the sword and inhaled deeply, then exhaled. Gripping the hilt with both hands the Great General of the North inhaled as his biceps bulged. Tensing his entire body, bending his knees and putting all of his strength into a titanic jerking heave the general struggled to lift the sword.

And he did…a little.

The courtyard was in uproar. "The old man is mocking us, if the Great General can't lift that thing then who can?"

A clear thin voice cut through the babble and silenced the field as the Crimson Emperor made a calm observation. "The boy can."

And so he did, as the black smith calmly explained, It had taken him half of his life to find enough of a rare metal that could only be worked under extreme, sustained heat with heavier than normal hammers over a continuous period of ten days. It had nearly broken his body to forge the sword and he had realized as his son had helped him forge the blade that he needed to train someone to wield this sword, not hope that such a person existed. There were certain groups of muscles that warriors depended on in battle. Their specific training emphasized those body parts. The balance of the blade he had forged was such that in placed strain in muscle groups that were underused by warriors. In order to properly lift and wield the sword the old man had directed his son's training for years to be able to wield a blade like the zanbatou.

Holding the sword with shocking ease in one hand the as of that moment nameless boy delivered a single lightning quick strike. The monster's body was cleaved in two and the blade sheared partway through the iron rock causing the thing to split the rest of the way down the middle with a loud crack. The court was silent as they took in the spider web of cracks covered the pavilion stones below the rock.

The legend of Yuusha and the Heavenly Goblin-Slaying sword began.

_**Present time.**_

And here it would end, in fire and blood, as the heroic Yuusha Lee Wu Fong plunged toward the evil youjutsusha Dashi and the demon that he was trying to resurrect The Bodies of the Four Great Generals lay piled atop mounds of monster corpses. Dashi cast gouts of flame at Yuusha but the spirits of the Great Generals joined together in a mirror-like shield and Dashi fell back, for the first time fear filled his lime-green eyes as the hero's blade plunged into his guts ripping out his spine. In his fading eyes a ghostly image of the First Crimson Emperor stood above him in victory just as this puppy of a Yusha did now. Then the world erupted in flame as the volcano they were standing on exploded.

The screen went dark and the ending credits began to roll.

"No way is that PG-13." Suzume breathed.

"Interesting special effects." Hideo muttered.

"I spotted some plot errors." Itachi smirked. "The scenes were pretty jumbled."

"Yeah," Suzume sighed. "All that skipping around was pretty confusing."

The muttering behind their heads increased as they heard the patrons around them comment on the film.

"Did you hear him scream, I heard the stuntman broke his legs and back when his crash bag failed, paralyzed for life." A man whispered softly. "That scene was so cool!"

"Who cares about that, I heard the actor insisted that they film atop a live volcano, that eruption wasn't part of the script." The first man's companion replied. "That explosion was classic."

"You mean it was real, must have been a lucky break for the film crew…" A woman who had been listening in said. "Getting such a good shot and all."

The three turned to the woman's companion who after hearing those comments felt the need to interject. "Lucky, hah! Tell that to the poor suckers who were filming on the crater when it went up. The only thing that they managed to recover was the film!"

Realizing the true scope of danger in Gai's mission, the three genin shared a look and vanished from the movie theater just as an usher passed beneath them. After sneaking out a side entrance the trio made their way back to their hotel room. They had gone on an excursion to the movie theater on the pretext of gathering information on their client and Gai's. What they had found wasn't promising. The territory they were traveling to was some what remote and there was a definite trend of accidents associated with Xiao Wu Long's films. All in all team Moriko wanted to be prepared for the start of their duties when the rest of the film crew arrived in Wakazi town the next day.

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_That night somewhere in Tatami Country._

A fox cried out in the middle of a desolate field, its lonely dark eyes stared up at the moon. Hidden away in the same valley was an aesthetic's retreat that was currently being used to hold a secret meeting. Several men wearing black keikogi and loose trousers over wire mesh body armor surrounded the house, taking up guard positions both hidden and mobile. Two particularly muscular individuals guarded the doorway while the shadows of the roof shifted in an unusual manner, indicating the presence of another hidden guard.

Within an isolated room covered in seals twelve men wearing fox masks plotted murder. Their goal was the survival and supremacy of their clan. They had searched for years before finally finding the one they sought. The final descendant of their groups most infamous traitor. The one with the power to grant all of their dreams of glory, power, and vengeance was near, after so many years their prey was coming home.

"We have found the Invitator." A firm baritone voice intoned.

"He is coming to us, falling into our hands." Another elderly and more feminine voice cried out.

"We must not fail, failure will not be tolerated." A youthful man's voice commanded.

As one the fox masks turned toward a shadow next to the closed entrance. Eerie visages were made sinister by the dancing shadows of candle light. As one the discordant voices spoke together.

"Do you understand? Inuki!"

From deep within the shadows about the entrance a small light flares as the man named Inuki lights a cigarette. In the soft amber glow features such as deeply tanned skin covered in scars and old grey eyes with baggy pouches under them could be seen. It was all framed by a long, dark and untamed mane of hair, cascading down over his shoulders in tangled curls. More than one of the fox masked people fought down a shudder as Inuki's calculating gaze raked over their collected presence even though their identities were secret and they were supposed to be this man's superiors. Scarred fingers reached up to take the cigarette from his mouth as he expelled a cloud of smoke unperturbed by their attention. The red lips on a lined and generous mouth smirked.

"Hai."

After the meeting had finished and all of the masks had left Inuki strolled down a forest path toward a figure waiting for him. It was an extremely short, squat old man with a misshapen head, dressed in a child's kimono. One fuzzy grey eyebrow lifted and a dark brown eye examined the tall Inuki. Tutting like an old woman he scolded the man gently.

"Boss, you shouldn't be smoking, think of your health!"

Inuki looked down at his subordinate blandly and sighed. Pinching the glowing end with his fingers he place the death-stick into his pocket all the while under the old man's gaze.

"Ayumu you're such a busybody." Inuki muttered. Looking down at the old man, Ayumu, he said, "They've managed to locate Naoki-sama's and Kensei-sama's great-grandchild."

Ayumu's eyebrows ruffled in surprise as he turned to Inuki in query. "What do we do?"

"Nothing yet." Inuki answered. "He'll have a ninja escort if he's coming here. Send Michiru just to be safe, I want her to watch him when he arrives."

Ayumu nodded. "So the grandson of the traitor has returned."

Inuki began to walk deeper into the forested hillside as Ayumu followed. A grey mist began to obscure their forms as Inuki's voice wafted through the air.

"A fatal mistake…for him."

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Team Moriko and Maito Gai formed up around the film crew gathering in Wakazi Town. The fire country village was the primary way point before undertaking the overland journey to Waterfall Country where they would meet with Xiao Wu Long's entourage and then proceed to film on location in Tatami Country. Director Mikuno, as Assistant Director Mizuno explained, wanted to use their travel time to film scenes for the next installment in the Yuusha films that didn't star the lead actor.

Their days from then on were spent guarding the film crew while traveling. They took shifts doing training, sleeping and on look-out duty during filming and on rest stops. It was during one of there rest stops while traveling to Waterfall Country that Moriko introduced team nine to the wonders of tree climbing. A wonder that was met with as much enthusiasm as Maito Gai's 'Burning Youth, Life or Death Calisthenics' training since Itachi and Hideo were already proficient with the technique.

Suzume and Nadeshiko, were only a little familiar with the mechanics of the training skill but they picked it up quickly. Unfazed Moriko instructed them to spend at least a portion of their time training with an overly enthusiastic Gai in a game of tree-top tag, punching and kicking allowed, a game where the first to touch the ground was the loser. In exchange Moriko spent time instructing Gai in training methods for combating genjutsu users.

And the eighteen day trip progressed across fire country with team nine and the film crew in tow trekking overland from time to time spending a day or two filming on location in various fields and forests in Fire country. It was during one such film day that team nine participated in their most recent 'Burning Youth, Life or Death Calisthenics' training exercise.

Much to his dismay, Maito Gai learned that for reasons pertaining to his 'flaming' youthful vigor, Murasaki-sensei had forbidden Itachi to wear Maito Gai's 'Fashinable Stylish, Aerodynamic Burning Battlesuit tm' since it risked over-burning and smothering his joyous youth prematurely.

While Gai lamented the extreme hipness that endangered the enflamed pride of youth, Itachi had been forced to keep a straight face as Hideo gagged at his explanation. Just as Gai was about to launch into another tirade, Itachi neatly interjected with the information that he hadn't been banned from training with Gai and that he looked forward to the challenge that wearing something other the incredible 'Fashinable Stylish, Aerodynamic Burning Battlesuit tm' would present.

Enthralled by the idea that wearing clothes with high wind resistance would actually be beneficial to his training Gai had promptly gone shopping in the closet of the film's clothes designer. Delighted that someone shared his sense of 'fashion' the other man promptly provided a large white floppy hat complete with a pink bowtie, a bouquet of flowers and a stuffed sparrow, wings out spread on top that Gai wore like a poncho.

On his torso he wore a loosely closed laced up frilly purple silk shirt which, much to Suzume's delight, exposed a firmly muscular chest with the beginnings of dense hair growth. The bottom of the shirt was firmly secured by a sash of red silk that snapped in the wind like a kite's tail and caused the loose shirt to inflate in high wind. The coup de grace was the flowing green skirt under which was an assortment of under skirts and petticoats and hoses. As much as he liked a challenge, the clothing designer had to be disappointed when Gai refused the red high heels due to the possibility of injury.

Gai did promise to go for a drink with the nice and helpful man when he was of age.

Even the usually unflappable Moriko and Itachi were stunned. Suzume just stared at Gai's chest and idly asked Hideo if Gai was wearing a 'traditional' kilt. Hideo thought it was an abomination. He had never so deeply wanted to put out his eyes that saw things in entirely too much detail and for the first time deeply resented the fact that Itachi didn't possess the Sharingan so that the smartass wouldn't be able to forget the sight that was before them.

Then Gai tried to perform Konoha Senpuu…

Moriko was a shade too late to cover their eyes.

Fortunately for them, Gai wore underwear….

Unfortunately that was all he wore.

Itachi and Hideo's thoughts were somewhere along the lines of this.

"_I didn't see anything. I didn't see anything. I didn't see anything. I didn't see anything."_

While Moriko-sensei, Suzume and a certain clothes designer's thoughts were more like this.

"_I saw eeeeeverything!" _

In a rare moment of solidarity Hideo and Itachi resolved to burn the outfit the first chance that they got and never speak of the 'incident that didn't happen' again. From that day onward Hideo refused to train with Gai, but Suzume and Itachi bravely soldiered on. Weird or not, they both noticed that they were little by little getting stronger.

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Itachi was having visions again. Not as clear as the last set he had endured in the forest, nor as vague as the hints and flashes of sudden insight that he had endured since birth, but he was having visions. They were all the same, in the dream Itachi was in the body of an older man, his eyes were faintly burning as he closely watched the movements of another man. This had not been the first time that they had fought he sensed. They moved in unison as their bodies had become deeply in tune with the pulse of the battlefield.

The field that there were fighting in was filled with a staggering amount of dead bodies. The scent of blood filled the air and made his eyes water. In the real world, Itachi's closed eyes shed tears as he slept quietly. His dream self blinked at the wetness and the fight started.

His opponent pounced in a blur of motion. Itachi knew without understanding that he should have seen the foreshadowing of this attack. His eyes should have observed the play of chakra through tensing muscles. The increasing pulse rate seen by the shifting of the skin at temple and jugular should have been evident. The tensing of the arms, the balancing movement of the feet; and a thousand other tells were absent.

He should have seen the foreshadowing, he knew without understanding how that it was only his extensive combat experience that spared him an instant death. He knew that his opponent was good, that the only thing that had allowed him to avoid the scrabbling, grasping fingers that had tried to rip open his carotid artery was the fact that his enemy did not have the same eyes as he. His enemy erased many of his tells and his fighting style was difficult to predict but there were things that 'normal' eyes could not see that his Sharingan did.

It was small, an involuntary twitch there, stifled but for the faint sparking of lightening nature chakra in the nerves. The buildup of energy that was sudden enough to delay his sharingan's predictive abilities until the interval between fore-action and action was nearly non-existent. He was going to lose this fight he knew without understanding, but the lessons learned here would not die with him, this the nameless Uchiha did not know, but Itachi understood, even as he reeled backward, bleeding from an almost fatal wound.

As he lay on the ground, staring at the wide blue sky he could faintly hear his opponent saying something, complimenting him even though he wasn't dead yet. _"Idiot, every second wasted was a second lost."_ The man didn't even flinch when a high powered steel arrow guided by the Sharingan of one of his brothers sank into the back of his head and exploded out the other side. _"So skilled, so young."_ He thought ruefully as he began to blackout, the back of his neck was wet with what he assumed was blood.

Dark eyes opened in the moonlight, not for a moment betraying the unease felt within. He remembered the dream recalled with disgust the field filled with corpses and the stench of burnt flesh. It drew him back to the early years of his life during the Third Secret World War. He remembered the price paid for in blood by so many of his aunts and uncles, and if he still felt grief what of those who had been truly orphaned by that war?

"_He called his fighting system Ryuuchouyou Tekken-fuu. I must learn it, anything it takes"_

Itachi closed his eyes and dreamed and dreamed again of fields of slaughter and the man that nearly killed him.

"_No matter the cost, I must learn."_

And so as he slept, Itachi's mind was filled with the sound of battle.

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**AN: Well to answer a review off the bat, no Itachi's sense of smell is nowhere as good as Suzume's which is part of the reason that he's currently even with her in terms of using this skill to track people. Itachi is brilliant, his senses were enhanced by the Kyuubi especially his sight and I promise that you'll see some interesting things when he awakens his sharingan, to qoute Kakashi "be quiet, you'll wet yourself when you see it." **

**Suzume's problem is that she smells waaay too much. What's the point of having superior senses if you can't control them. Sure it must be cool to be able to hear a fly take a leak, but do you really want to? The overall effect left Suzume's instructors thinking that she was a total ditz but when she learns control she'll be awesome. I hope you don't mind having a movie inserted into the middle of the story, the scene kind of got away from me a little. Youjutsusha means wizard or sorceror/sorceress**


	7. Chapter 7

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

**I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way**.

"Speaking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Demon"**

**Hirahira**

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_excerpt_

_You, who read this, know that I am a failure and a disgrace. A dishonest, dishonorable man, born from a drunk, drug crazed whore and one of any of her numerous clients. One of whom I learned, would eventually beat her to death shortly after I was born. My name is Inuki, a fitting name for someone who was abandoned to be ripped apart and eaten by wild dogs. That those selfsame dogs were more interested in rutting than filling their mangy bellies was simply a matter of bad timing. The fact that the yelping of the dogs had drawn the attention of my future sensei to my predicament was simply coincidence. That a few seconds before discovering my bug bitten body my drunk master had been urinating on my head, now that was fate, and probably a portend of the future. _

_Know where you came from, remember it and never forget. The moment that you do will be the moment that you lose yourself. I began at the bottom and no matter how high I rose in station I never forgot that fact. My old teacher used to say that the nature of the world was to crush the weak under foot, but the nature of the weak was to snap at the heels of their masters the second they turned their back. Whether this was a lesson in treachery or about the nature of men, my master's teachings were clear. The world was a terrible place for the weak and those who stand above should always be wary of those below, the weak did not stay weak forever, not if they wished to live, they only waited for the most opportune moment to bear their fangs and hobble you._

_That was the first rule of my life, the primary tenet of my formative years. The Kouga ninja clan took in the weak and made them stronger and those that remained weak did not survive. The chaos of the First Secret World War was recounted to me in the hushed whispers and tormented dreams of my elders. I was born into an era of peace and for a time people did nothing but try to believe it would last. It did not, but for that span of twenty years there was no war, when war was all that people knew. The ways of the clans was changing, alliances were being built, nations were born and in that uncertain time of refugee caravans and roaming rogue ninja, I was born to parents delirious with freedom from the fear of death and terrified of the uncertainty of a changing world._

_My time on this earth is growing short, the aches in my lungs are growing stronger and the medicinal smoke that I inhale is no longer able to blunt the agony of my disease. This is not a confession, I don't believe in forgiveness, or the after-life or the gods for that matter. I believe in death, a slow, painful, ignominious death, preferably inflicted on my enemies in a manner that in no way can be traced back to me. It is exactly the type of death that I deserve for there is no greater honor, for a ninja to have died with his passing going un-remarked. _

_I need not be remembered with honor as my actions will speak for themselves. I'll leave you to worry about just what the hell it was that I did, thinking about it is just making me smile as my final hour approaches. What I will talk about is the series of events that lead to what my colleagues would later call The Great Betrayal and the death of a noble clan of Tatami._

_**-Kouga Ninpochou, Kouga no Inuki **_

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**Waterfall Country One day before Xiaou Wu Long joins film set.**

The HiraHira Hotel was situated in one of the few resorts towns of any note in Waterfall Country. The land itself was primarily a tourist and lumber based industry. The country consisted of large tracts of forest and untamed land divided by several streams and white water rapids originating from the mountains to the north. The most well known features of the country were the large waterfalls that gave the small nation its name. As far a Xiao Wu Long was concerned he in the middle of the Boonies.

Oh the women were nice in a puckish sort of way with thin bodies and pixie-like breasts but then he had glimpsed examples of what they would look like in their later years and morbidly obese was a kind description. They were good for a nightly distraction but he was careful not to become too deeply involved with any one girl. Besides he was more of a breast man, he liked them soft and round, perky but just a little pendulous. Nipples the size of his thumb was his joy and he loved the thought of cleavage deep enough for him to bury his head in it and just inhale the scent of feminine flesh.

His eyes wondered over to the well endowed blond that had just stood up and turned to the exit to the bar. His eyes roamed over her fit body. She had huge breasts maybe D or E-cups that jutted out of her chest and swayed slightly as she walked. She couldn't have been older than eighteen and looked as if a light push would knock her off balance. She didn't seem frail, her breasts were just that huge. One of the girls sitting at his booth giggled into his ear and he started at the noise. By the time he turned back to look for his blond Amazon all he saw was some scrawny kid, carrying a tiny pink pig hurrying out the door.

"_Shit."_

Feigned tiredness and ignoring the concern of his manager Yue-san as well as the disappointed sounds coming from his former conquest-to-be, the wiry twenty year old man rushed out of the door but no matter how he questioned the staff at the hotel he couldn't find the woman. Weary, he made his way to his room and sank into his bead after ordering a flask of warm sake to be sent to him in the morning. It would be one of the last times that he'd get the chance to drink like this without his manager getting on his case.

After all they were meeting with the film crew tomorrow…And going there.

Finally, after hours of brooding, Wu Long closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

In the street below a thin dark haired girl carrying a tiny pink pig rushed into a mahjong parlor already dreading the gleeful sounds of greedy laughter that she could hear within.

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**Waterfall Country in the forest at night**

It was a dream unlike any other that he had ever experienced before. The shinrabanshou bestowed upon him the genetic memory of veteran members of the Uchiha, their knowledge and their experience seen through dreams or visions.

At the moment Itachi could tell right away that there were two things wrong with the dream that he was experiencing. First of all there was no flood of emotions and sensations that he normally experienced during one of his episodes. He did not instantly _become_ the person whose memories he was experiencing but was rather a silent spectator witnessing events in the distant past.

The second thing that was wrong with the dream was that he could tell without knowing how that the person whose eyes he was looking through was not an Uchiha. There was a certain sharpness of clarity that was absent from his vision which he had learned was a natural side effect of possessing an awakened sharingan.

The body he was in didn't have the feel of an Uchiha body, it was powerful, oh yes it was, but a power of a different sort flowed through his veins. This person seemed to be deeply connected with the natural world to the point that the mighty pulse of chakra that signified the world's life could be felt strongly in his bones.

Whatever the reason for it was the dream was strange. The body he had inhabited stood upon a tree branch stretching out over a chasm of darkness, the sky was red tinged by the light of a crimson moon.

"**Boy."**

A strange menacing voice whispered from somewhere in the darkness below. The scent of rotting flesh wafted up to Itachi accompanied by the sensation of deep inimical fury. Whatever was down there Itachi hoped that his host would have the sense to stay away from it.

"**Bo-o-o-y-y-y."**

A strange chill began to run down Itachi's metaphorical spine as he realized that no; his host didn't have the sense to avoid the hidden menace. The body stepped off the thick branch and with a lurching sensation dropped into the void.

The darkness below receded a little as if he were carrying a light and Itachi noted that he was now standing upon another thick branch several feet below the first. His host seemed calm but Itachi's mind trembled as he remembered the feeling of falling into a great darkness. Whatever light illuminating the chasm dimmed as the world shivered and a foul hot wind blew upward.

"**I… wish boy."**

In spite of Itachi's mental protestations his host form in this nightmare world began to progress further and further downward, the branches that they landed on became twisted, mangled and thinner. They reached out into the darkness like strange wasted arms beseeching the oppressive shadows for clemency.

"_No."_

"_No!"_

"_No! I don't want to be here!"_

"_I don't want to see this! No!"_

"**Ohhh, howww I wishhh Boyyyy."**

"Please, no!!"

The dissociation between what Itachi felt and did and what he thought and wanted began to fade. With horror he started to realize that he was actually in his own body but that couldn't be right, this was not the body of an Uchiha.

"_What was going on?"_

"**Oh how I wish Boy!"**

In the distance far below he could faintly see a thread of pale golden crimson light. Like the lava in a volcano it radiated a tremendous amount of heat and light. He wanted to leave but felt compelled by some siren call to come closer.

"**Oh how I wish Boy!"  
**

His palms were sweaty and slipped on the rough bark, there was a strange buzzing in his ears and he began to hear the faint sounds of something below making wet, slurping and sucking noises as well as ripping and tearing sounds. His flesh crawled at the thought of multiple wriggling forms.

"**That All Mankind…" **

He began to make out a faint outline below but he couldn't make out any details as be approached closer and closer still, his mind numb with horror and his breath coming in sobbing gasps.

"**Had just **_**ONE**_** neck."**

When Itachi was five, the earliest memories that he could recall were those memories of the scent of death. While too young to fight in the war, the age of academy entry had been lowered to a five years of age minimum during wartime. He remembered the resigned look on his mother's face, the silent apathy of his father and the old dog that used to follow him part of the way to school.

There was an incident of sabotage, an enemy infiltrator had made an attempt on the Hokage's secure library and set off several exploding tags in the civilian areas as a distraction. A girl had shielded him, he never found out if she survived but he remembered how still she was as she lay on the ground blood leaking over her tattooed cheeks.

There was a small pile of people and parts of people who had taken the full brunt of the blast. Itachi had climbed to the top of the pile and looked at the bloody, charred ruin of what was once a children's toy store and he thought, _"This is war."_

Medic-nin had rushed him away but not before he had seen the corpse of the old dog that had always followed him part of the way to the Academy. It had been impaled by a piece of flying debris and violently disemboweled.

Oddly enough it was the death of that dog that had haunted his dreams and not any of the human casualties. He had nightmares about the animal stalking after him, trailing blood and intestines, weeping yellow pus from suppurating wounds and worms and other insects covering its body instead of fur.

"**I **_**WISH**_** that ALL Mankind had just **_**ONE**_** neck…" **

What Itachi saw was the culmination of nightmares, the fruit of horror. Its form could not be fully discerned beneath the writhing mass of roots. Pink roots pierced into the bubbling red mass like worms seeking a meal. Blackened roots with hundreds of charred rootlets erupted out of the struggling, snarling mass like monstrous centipedes. A single glowing red eye with a slit pupil narrowed in fury roared.

"**So that I could **_**CRUSH**_** It!!"**

In a darkened tent a pair of agitated eyes opened in startled panic searching for the owner of that furious red eye. Forcefully calming himself, Itachi concentrated on slowing his heartbeat, never once realizing that his eyes also had their own crimson hue.

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**Land of Tatami/Waterfall Country Border**

Ayumu dithered as he walked, mumbling to himself. _"Do you understand Michiru?"_

"_Yes!"_ an annoyed voice hollowly spoke within his ear.

"_Inuki-sama wants you to watch him but to keep your distance; our spies tell us that there will be at least two jounin protecting the Invitator."_ Ayumu murmured as he bent down to examine a group of mushrooms. They were of a poisonous variety.

"_Why not just kill him? I've heard of his 'habits' it shouldn't be too hard for me to get close to the man."_ Michiru sounded peevish.

Ayumu smirked, _"The leaders want the Invitator alive for the first part of their plan, Inuki-sama wants to wait until the boy gets closer to the border of Tatami before making a move. We'll use missing-nins to wear down his defenses and hopefully take out some of those guards. Now that we are aware of him we can always go after him later when he enters Tatami." _

Three shadows appear in the trees behind Ayumu as he released a thin wire that was clenched in his jaws. Without looking at them he spoke. "You know what to do."

The shadows vanished into the trees.

Nearly three miles away in the land of Waterfall a thin slip of a figure silently lowered itself onto a tree branch like a spider. Dressed in short black tights and a sleeveless black top covered by a midnight blue haori that was belted closed at the waist by a green rope, the feminine figure maneuvered itself to lightly and soundlessly place a tabi and zori clad foot upon the branch.

"_That person is an enemy of Inuki-sama!"_ She didn't like sitting and watching but it was an order from her Inuki-sensei then she would follow it. Her fingers, wearing dull black rings, twitched and a nearly invisible wire thrummed as it sliced cleanly through the trunk of the tree behind her. The girl's short black hair bobbed in the wind as the trunk of the tree fell past her. _"I will kill anyone who stands against him!"_

With a determined expression the girls cart-wheeled backward with unnatural slowness seeming to wind something around her foot as she stood suspended in the air for a second until with another gesture a taut wire unraveled from around the fallen tree trunk and in a flash the girl was catapulted into the distance.

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Kouga Naoki sat at her desk with her eyes closed. She had known that this day would come and thanked her ancestors for being alive to do something about it. So many secrets, so many betrayals, lies felt like ashes upon her tongue, and what had she accomplished. Those who were wronged sought vengeance and in turn wronged others in a senseless cycle of violence that she was helpless to stop. Still there was one thing that she could do.

"Send for Inuki." She ordered in a reedy thin voice. It was time for things to come to an end.

Across the Ninja world some dreamed, some plotted and lives moved along courses charted by heavens web. The wings of a butterfly fluttered and destiny shifted.

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**AN: It's kinda short but this part of the story is the point of transition where things start to get really interesting I've planned out a story arc that's going to read like a miniature naruto movie. I think that you'll love it. I've been getting a little busy and won't have the time to keep up a heavy pace of frequent posts but readers can at least expect each of my other stories to be updated before the end of the month.**

**To answer a question, senjutsu in the term given in Naruto for tactical skills such as plotting ambushes, defenses, counter attacks, pursuits, tracking and infiltrations. One must take into account the environment, time, climate, and equipment at one's disposal as well as the type of enemy that is being fought. In my story the basics are taught to genin such as the basic tactics and formations to defend a client, lay a trap, and attack a position. More detailed information is available in the academy and at the Konoha Library but most of the higher level tactics and procedures are taught in person by jounin as such information can be used to predict patterns of operation and would be dangerous in enemy hands. In the Academy this is mainly a theory oriented subject.**

**As for nawakiri no jutsu well that's the name that I made up for the rope parting skill, students are also taught the basics of manipulating wires and exploding tags during this class. **

**Generally academy students and Genin gain knowledge from three general sources in this story. Commonly available technique scrolls can be bought in bookstores and learnt at the academy or library. Less commonly available and slightly dangerous low level techniques are taught by chuunin instructors and are in the restricted section of the library. Restricted techniques like bloodline skills and family arts are taught by relatives while the more dangerous mid level skills and tactics are taught by jounin instructors and learnt by chuunin. High level skills are taught as needed to jounin and many are encouraged to develop their own abilities.**

**Ask more questions it helps give me ideas for the story.TTFN. **


	8. Chapter 8

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

****

**I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way.**

**"Speaking"**

**"_Thinking"_**

**"Demon"**

**-SF-**

**Kitsuki**

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**Interlude, An Innocent Ninja Love Story **

Kitsuki Waya lived a difficult life. It began in fire and pain, when he was orphaned at birth. Waya bore a disfiguring scar across his back that had nearly ended his career as a ninja before it had even begun. He was taken in by his maternal grandfather, a former shinobi himself who had retired from active duty and opened a bar and diner catering to off-duty ninja.Waya had lived his entire life surrounded by 'cool' ninja and he wanted nothing more than to be one. He was determined to follow in his parent's footseps and become a ninja regardless of the effort that it might take . As a result, he started on the road to being a ninja with a disadvantage that his classmates did not have and a burning determination that few could understand.

Medical techniques while a toddler had reduced the scar tissue on his back ensuring that he could live a normal life, extensive and merciless physical training under his grandfather's grudging tutelage had just barely made it so that he could serve as a shinobi. His grades in the Academy were usually the lowest in his class but by some miracle it seemed that this year he hadn't graduated in last place.

He wasn't to sure what to think about that mixed blessing.

The source of Waya's confusion was as always Aburame Shinobu.

Once, when Waya was eight an Aburame had entered the Kitsuki bar with some teammates. The man had held an air of exasperated tolerance and had left soon after one of the other men had drunkenly splashed some alcohol on him. Later that night, when Waya had been cleaning up their table at closing time he had noticed a strange looking firefly walking around in circles smelling of sake.

Waya had liked fireflies back then so he had gently moved the beetle to a coaster and placed it on an empty windowsill. The next day the beetle was gone and Waya forgot about the incident.

A day after that Shinobu had shown up.

The six year old girl was like a shadow that Waya couldn't be rid of. She watched him constantly and followed him everywhere. She stood outside his house when Waya woke up and she followed him to the academy, waiting at the entrance in the evening until he left. Silently, blatantly, unapologetically, constantly watching him. He had been ribbed by his classmates until one day he yelled at her to go away.

She hadn't gone away, she just decided to hide better, but he could always feel her watching him even in the bath.

_"Creepy…"_

It was irritating but his grandfather had only smirked when Waya had complained to him about her. The Aburame clan was now a frequent customer of the bar and diner. Jii-chan was so happy that he had added servings of fresh, sweet fruit juice to the menu for his new loyal customers as well as a small flower garden outside of the store to attract butterflies for viewing. Unsurprisingly, Shinobu often came with her parents on outings to the increasingly prosperous restaurant.

Waya had failed his first written academy exam and the second, he had been sent back with his team the third time. His physical limits had been improved over time but his grades were still horrible. By the time that Waya was twelve he was pretty certain that if he failed again he would be booted out of the academy.

To make matters worse Shinobu was now in his class, somehow always managing to sit in a position where she could watch him without being obvious that she was doing it. Her usual seat of choice was one place behind him to his left. She stood next to him in exercises and paired up against him in spars. They had interacted to such a degree that Waya was by this time hyperaware of insects to the extent that he was accustomed to restraining the instinctive urge to swat at things crawling on his skin when an Aburame was nearby.

Due to his time spent around Aburame members he now went out of his way to check to see if he had a kikai bug on him before gently brushing of the strangely amorous insects. He always had one on him though and Waya as fairly certain he knew who was responsible for that. Shinobu rarely spoke to him unless she had to and it was always a litany of monosyllable answers delivered in a bland, impersonal tone.

Waya found that in watching her watch him, he had gained several insights into her mystifying behavior. Her face became blank and her shoulders squared when she was afraid. Spiders, frogs, lizards and newts frightened her and she disliked being in the presence of animals that ate insects. The right corner of her mouth twitched when she was pissed and her personal hygiene bordered on obsessive-compulsive behavior.

When Waya had been paired with her and Uchiha Shisui he had been both relieved and depressed. On one hand he was with someone he knew, one the other hand she was the weirdest girl that he had ever known. Shinobu's only response to the fact that she was paired with Waya was. "Hn."

Their Jounin-Sensei was a laid-back man named Nara Toshiki whose idea of training his students was to have them run through endless drills and D-rank missions while the jounin worked on his tan. The slouching, lazy man at times tasked his students with independent study or, 'Do what you want, let me sleep!' exercises that involved quietly sitting, observing nature while blindfolded and gagged or pulling a two-wheel, one-man wicker carriage carrying their sensei or a prearranged bag of groceries around town while the man slept.

Today Waya was making his way to the steps of the mission assignment hall where he was supposed to meet his team for a new D-rank assignment. As usual Aburame Shinobu was shadowing his movement three steps behind to his left. As had been happening often of late Kitsuki thought back to the events of their genin survival test and the words Shinobu had spoken to him.

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**Academy roof**

"Ehhhh!!"

They had just been offhandedly informed by Toshiki-Sensei that at least two of the three genin taking his test would need to pass his evaluation if they wanted to become ninja and that the third should probably give up to give the other's a fighting chance. He had seemed about to list the many and varied list of ways that a straggler could kill a team before sighing and saying that it was too troublesome a thing to do.

"B-but that's not fair!" whined Waya in frustration.

"Hn!" From Shinobu.

"Cheh!" scowled Shishui.

-Yawn- "Like I care, having a team is too troublesome, don't expect any favors." Nara Toshiki ruthlessly replied as he stretched lazily on the couch where he lounged before his standing students.

"Then get us another sensei! Ya lazy bum!!" Waya screamed, incensed by the jounin's attitude.

"That's…even more troublesome, come to training ground twenty-four, sometime, -yawn- afternoon tomorrow, that's when I usually wake up un!" The shadow clone of the jounin replied before disappearing in a puff of smoke when its creator finally fell asleep again, miles away in his apartment.

Jounin Nara Toshiki was too lazy to even be bothered by the effort of getting out of bed to greet a group of bothersome brats _three whole hours_ before noon.

Their sensei had arrived at three in the evening and given them half an hour to make it to the halfway point in field twenty-four's chunin training course. Shishui had burst ahead in a blaze of glory before going down the same way under the weight of several non-lethal traps. Shinobu had used he kikai bugs to free him while Waya took up the rear. Waya had aided Shinobu in spotting some of the more esoteric traps but his weak body had slowed the pace of their progress until things had come to an impasse.

Waya had fallen into a pit trap at the twenty-ninth minute. Shinobu had chosen to help him while Shishui had gone on, leaving them behind. Humiliated by his failure to spot such a simple trick Waya had been in tears when he asked her why she bothered. In a simple matter of fact tone Shinobu had replied.

"Because I love you."

Seconds later Shishui had returned, telling a blushing Waya and stoic Shinobu that he needed their help to pass the last hurdle. The three genin had failed the test by two minutes but Toshiki-Sensei had passed them anyway. This was mostly because the jounin hadn't bothered to bring an alarm clock to time them, since he didn't own one and it was too troublesome to buy one.

When Shishui had been asked for their time the normally by-the-book genin had lied outright.

Team Toshiki, pass!

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**Mission Assignment Hall**

Waya snapped back into reality as the chunin assignment officer began to go into the general details of the mission they had volunteered for. Babysitting a toddler, Waya was distracted by the fact that the 'toddler' he would be looking after was the Yondaime's son so he missed the glares that Shishui had been shooting one of the other teams. Shinobu however noticed everything. Since the only other teams from their year to have passed were the Kirito, Yamanaka, Akamichi group under Nura-Sensei and the Uchiha, Inuzaka, Hyuuga group under Murasaki-Sensei, Shinobu easily deduced who Shishui was staring at. Not for the first time the kunoichi felt uneasy about the Uchiha's behavior but she dismissed the matter from her mind.

A mistake.

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**Two Weeks later, two days journey from Tatami-Waterfall Border**

Considering that his mission with Xiaou Wu Long was now in progress Maito Gai couldn't help but feel disappointed by the sheer anti-climax that meeting the unyouthful action movie star had been. While he knew in his head that having a boring escort mission with a lazy, lush of a client that stayed out of his way was every ninja's ideal job, in his heart the fire's of Gai's youth raged.

"_Where's the action, where's the excitement."_ He thought.

A second later Gai chided himself for those thoughts as he remembered that his strength was to be used to protect the weak, to guard the fires of youth and uphold his ninja way.

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**Four and a half years ago**

"Sensei!"

"Gai…"

"Please, sensei"

"Maybe…"

"Yahooo!"

A ten year old boy wearing green tights and a wire mesh vest under a forest green gi began spinning around wildly, bouncing around from place to place as his teacher tried talking to him.

"Wait a-"

"Thank you sensei!!"

"-minute "

"I wanna learn how to do that thing where you smashed that guy through a boulder."

"I haven't decided-"

"The one where you mule-kicked him up into the air like swoosh!!"

"-anything-"

"And then ya kicked him around so fast that I couldn't even see ya sensei!!"

"-yet!"

"Then sensei hung in the air like a crane."

"Gai"

"And she kicked him so fast it set him on fire!"

"Gai!"

"Like, swish! Bang!"

"Gai!!"

"And then fwip, fwip, fwip! Bam!"

"Gai!!"

"And you were all red and on fire, and he was all squealing and crying, and you were like 'I crushed your nose, I could'a been aiming lower' and he was like-"

Finally the dark-haired woman had enough of her rambling student and bludgeoned him with a right cross.

"Listen to me! Goddammit!!"

–Smack!-

Gai's face dug a short, inch deep furrow in the soft forest earth.

"_S-strong!" _Gai thought woozily. _"Katsuragi-sensei is a strong and beautiful flower!"_

"_Masochist!"_ Katsuragi Yuuna thought as she watched Gai clear dirt out his nose with a love-struck expression.

Gathering her momentarily lost poise she turned to leave.

"My answer is no, you're still too immature for that!" Yuuna called over her shoulder.

Gai struggled to rise to his feet but instead only managed to raise himself to a kneeling position.

"Sensei, why? Kakashi he-" Gai began.

But Yuuna interrupted, "That is exactly why I can't teach you the advanced skills, if you are concerned about surpassing Kakashi-kun then the breathing skills and muscle control that I taught you should be enough, your taijutsu should have surpassed his already!"

"You're wrong Sensei!" Gai shouted at Katsuragi's retreating back. "I already know that! But Kakashi, Kakashi!"

Falling forward onto his hands Gai screamed aloud. "Kakashi is suffering, this war, people are dying around him and all I can do, damn it! All I can do is get stronger to be the one that protects! Not the one being protected!"

"Someone who protects, huh?" Yuuna muttered as she stood before the weeping Gai. Her movement was so sudden that the startled boy fell on his rear. Dark eyes looked contemplatively at Gai's tear and mucus streaked face.

"The things that I can show you, can kill you." Yuuna offered almost pleadingly as she knelt before him. "Do you understand me? You could die!"

Quietly she asked him, "Why do you want this?"

Gai stared into her eyes unflinchingly. "I need it to live!"

After a moment of silence Yuuna looked away, seeing the anguish on her face made Gai want to apologize but he held himself quiet.

Turning back to Gai Yuuna gave the boy a watery smile.

"A man does not go back on his word." She said.

"Yes!" Gai agreed emphatically.

Up until now I've taught you several styles of martial arts in addition to the advanced Konoha taijutsu, 'Renge'. When combined with the breathing and internal healing exercises that I've taught you you've been able to fight for longer without falling to fatigue."

"Hai!" Gai acknowledged.

"But that's not the only reason for learning those internal arts." Yuuna explained. Drawing Gai's attention to a fox stalking a field mouse she continued. "An animal in the wild must take care to only use the least amount of effort in hunting its prey, since less exertion means fewer injuries and slower wear on the body over time."

Looking at Gai to ensure that he was listening she continued. "The human body is the same way. In order to regulate our bodies to an optimum condition our mind and body possess a series of checks and balances to prevent over exertion. When these checks are released humans can draw an enormous power from within their bodies. You've probably heard stories of frail young mothers lifting a crashed ox-cart off of their children or wrestling with bandits."

Drawing a diagram in the dirt she pushed on with her explanation. "Using the techniques that I've taught to you, there is a way to systematically unlock these checks on the body's full strength and true potential."

Gai's face took on a look of pure glee until Yuuna's next words penetrated his mind.

"In exchange for unlocking these checks however is the risk of permanent injury, or even death." She said grimly. "That's why mastering even the simplest of endurance training techniques is vital as it is quite possible for someone to fight until they dropped dead."

Looking at Gai Yuuna pressed him with her words. "If I teach you how to use the Eight Celestial gates Gai there is something that I want you to promise me."

Gai nodded dumbly to show his agreement.

"I want you to only use this skill under a certain condition…"

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**Ravine Pass a day and a half from Tatami-Waterfall border**

Gai had taken up position in the middle of the film crew caravan as they progressed through the ravine. He was currently in an oxen-drawn wagon that was supposed to be carrying Xiaou Wu Long his agent and part of his entourage. The actor had taken offence to the size of the umeboshi served at lunch and in a fit of pique had turned out the make up artists from their living-wagon which was slightly wider than his own.

The bitterly complaining cosmeticians and their equipment had taken up residence in one of the clothing designer's carriages leaving Gai and Moriko to use the old private carriage as a cheap decoy.

Gai was currently using Henge to appear to be Xiaou Wu Long while a few of Itachi's shadow clones pretended to be simpering groupies. Periodically one of them would open a flap allowing Gai to quickly snatch a look outside in the reflection of a hand held mirror.

The plan was for Suzume to be at the head of the formation with a disguised Itachi clone while Hideo stayed in the middle of the formation seated on the perch next to the driver. Suzume's sense of smell was impaired by being close to so many animals so positioning her at the head of the caravan made it easier for her to use her advanced senses to detect dangers ahead of their route.

Hideo was positioned in the middle of the formation with the cluster of disguised Itachi clones for the purpose of identifying enemies coming from any direction so the clones could deal with the threat before the workers were in danger.

Moriko was currently taking her turn in disguise as one of Xiaou Wu Long's entourage guarding the movie star so that Gai could rest away from the man. Itachi was somewhere close to the rear so that he would be capable of dealing with any attacks from that direction and communicating with the other Itachi clones in case of an emergency.

Gai knew the instant before the clones in the caravan raised the alarm that something had gone wrong. First there was a dull rumble and then the rumble was followed by a thunderous crash as large boulders fell upon the wagons to the front and rear of the caravan, Suzume's agonized screams chilled the young jounin's blood as he prepared to seek out and engage the enemy.

He need not have bothered as a spear tip sought him out, skewering an Itachi-clone in the process. The wagon lurched as muddy water from a dammed and diverted stream carrying logs and other debris swept down the sides of the ravine and crashed into the caravan. The two attacks killed most of the civilians and Moriko stood on a log carrying a wet Xiaou Wu Long who was screaming for his agent.

Gai, still disguised as Xiaou Wu Long followed the few surviving Itachi-clones out of the floating caravan and unto a log where he was swiftly attacked by a spear-carrying bandit. The man thrust the spearhead at Gai in quick succession, indicating talent and training. Gai bent over backwards to dodge a thrust to his midsection using the opportunity to deliver, upside down, a straight punch to the groin of a man trying to sneak up behind him. With a gasp the bandit Gai punched collapsed forward unto the thrusting spear impaling himself.

Balancing on his hands Gai kicked the spear out of its wielder's hands before delivering a second crushing blow to the man's chin. Leaping back to his feet Gai ducked a swing from an axe delivering a flurry of wing chun punches to the solar plexus and ribs of his attacker. He then stepped back as the brigand lurched over to vomit onto the log, watching as the man placed himself perfectly to receive the tip of the falling spear through a lung. A swift kick, broke off a five foot long length of wood which Gai used as a jo until he broke the wooden shaft on the head of a charging bandit.

Leaping closer to Moriko who was fighting an uphill battle burdened by Xiaou, Gai used his left foot to stop the sword-wielding fist of one bandit while doing a leaping kick with his other foot to break the nose of another bandit. Whipping the wooden sticks around, he managed to again trap the sword of the bandit before him with one stick, while swinging around the other like a baton to deliver a series of violent blows, clubbing the man's face and neck.

With a final poke to the sword-wielder's left eye with the splintered end of one of his short sticks Gai turned away from the writhing, screaming man clutching at his ruined eye.

**-Wham!!-**

A giant mace clubbed Gai in the back causing him to smash through the interlocked debris and into the water flooding the ravine.

The mace wielding bandit was a giant, burly hulk of a man who stood no less than six and a half feet tall. The sword-wielding bandit dragged himself to his feet and made his way over to the hole as his partners began to torment the weary Moriko. They waited for the ninja to show himself. Gai's crushed and bloody face floated up to the surface of the water and the smaller bandit spat on the revealed body of the ninja.

Then the world shifted.

Like the sudden lifting of a hazy mist the illusion covering the battlefield dissipated revealing, no Gai, no Moriko, only several dead and dying bandits along with a handful of Itachi's shadow clones.

"**DYNAMIC, ENTRY!!"**

At the sound of that horribly, manly bellow the giant, mace-wielding bandit looked up, seeking the source of the noise. From out of the light of the midday sun a figure appeared. Slicing through the air at incredible speeds the sandaled foot of the true Maito Gai struck the large man in the chin. A sixty kilo jounin, wearing one hundred and twenty kilos of training weights moving at high speed impacted with enough force to snap the ox-like neck of the mace-wielding bandit. The larger man's neck hyper-extended with an audible crack and the smaller bandit stepped back in shock as the man's giant body began to sag at the knees.

The barrel-chested bandit slumped backwards, collapsing unto the shoulders of the young jounin. The sword-wilding bandit took this chance to attempt to run both the corpse and the ninja through with a single thrust. Gathering himself he charged over the tightly packed debris with a shrieking yell.

"Ssshhhhhaaaaaaa-Reeeaaarrgghh!!" He screamed drawing his sword backward in preparation to strike.

**-Plunk-**

"_My Fucking Eye!!"_ He thought, as he pushed away the stabbing pain.

**-Plunk, plunk, plop- **

For a moment the charging bandit thought that he was hearing the rain, until six kunai embedded themselves in the fatty gut of the bandit before him. Then another set struck a bandit several paces to his right. Looking over his right shoulder the bandit's good eye widened at what he saw. From out of the blinding light of the sun, the shadow of six kunai fell from the sky.

Then that number, tripled, then tripled again and again and again until the sky was raining hundreds of pieces of metal. With a quick gulp of air the bandit dived into the hole in the debris opened up by the mace. He stayed there for as long as he could hold his breath before surfacing at the shore of the ravine on the opposite side of the large corpse. Looking around for his missing sword in desperation the bandit noticed that the jounin from before was standing proudly on a rock on the other bank of the ravine.

Then he noticed the log that the ninja had replaced himself with propping up the kunai and shuriken-ridden corpse of the fat bandit.

_And then_ he noticed the exploding tag on the log.

"_Oh SHI-!!" _

**-BOOM-**

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On a hill in the distance, from a hidden position overlooking the chaos in the ravine Murasaki Moriko packed away the last of her implements and sealed the scroll containing a lifelike depiction of the caravan passing through the pass in the distance. Itachi had observed closely as she had painted the scene weaving almost seamlessly the illusionary caravan using the spare carriage that Xiaou Wu Long hadn't wanted as well as a handful of shadow clones created by Itachi.

When Suzume had caught the scent of the bandits ahead of their route Hideo had found their watchers in the forest and Moriko-sensei had trapped the unsuspecting men in a genjutsu showing the caravan slowly proceeding toward the ravine. Hideo had used his byakugan to scout ahead for the location of the enemy forces and in doing so had found an alternate path to the border. To discourage pursuit several Itachi clones had accompanied Moriko-sensei and Gai-sensei to where they set up a counter-ambush. The rest of their group had escorted the real caravan through an abandoned pass that avoided the perils on their present previous course.

After closing the final clasp on her backpack Moriko sat for a moment observing what she had wrought. The shock of finding their world suddenly changed, combined with losing their target, being beaten by Gai in addition to seeing several of their number die in a hail of kunai severely tested the morale of the mountain bandits. The explosion was the last straw jolting them into fleeing as a mob despite of the protests of their leader a squat man wearing shabby samurai armor. As the bandit's fled from the ravine Moriko turned to Itachi.

"Dispel yourself and inform the others that we will be joining them soon." She ordered brushing aside a strand of hair.

The clone nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Now for the hard part." She breathed as Gai returned carrying the unconscious bandit leader as she had requested him to. One look at Gai's face revealed his queasiness at what he thought was coming. She almost sent him along with Itachi but Gai was a Jounin, what they could learn from the bandit leader may be important in the furure.

After quickly tying the man to a tree she belted him across the face with an open hand. By the time the first syllable of an outraged curse had left the man's mouth Moriko had already completed the final seal of her next jutsu.

"Ninpo: Jigyaku no jutsu." Moriko intoned as she placed her hand on the forehead of the bandit leader. The man's jaws slackened and his eye's rolled up in his head. The jounin smirked in satisfaction as a trail of drool slipped from the corner of the man's mouth and his head lolled forward. The time reversal technique caused a subject to recall the events of a certain time period in exacting detail, it wasn't perfect but it worked well enough for debriefings and the interrogation of prisoners with weak minds.

"Tell me of what caused you to attack this caravan!!" Moriko ordered as Gai observed wide-eyed.

With a shuddering sigh the squat man began a mumbling, rambling account of his personal history, of how he felt unloved as a child, and lusted after his mother.

There was a reason that this technique wasn't the be all and end all of interrogation techniques. Moriko rubbed at the beginnings of a headache before asking a second, more carefully thought out question before the bandit regaled Gai with a lusty account of what actually happened when he decided to rape his mother.

"This caravan in particular! Tell me about what caused you to attack Xiaou Wu Long's caravan!" Moriko interrupted what was from Gai's expression a rather disgusting tale.

"Three men in red," The bandit leader sighed. "Paid us, told us that they'd split the ransom. I was fucking some bitch from the next village when they came to make the offer, uhuhu! She was a screamer all right! A virgin too! The men loved her!"

Moriko tried asking more about the three men but all she got was more disgusting information about the people that the man had been molesting with impunity that day.

Gai was trembling with impotent rage so she sent him ahead to meet with the others before he did something stupid. Then when he was out of sight, she made two hand seals, tiger, then ram and tapped the bandit with a finger.

"_Genjutsu Kai!"_ She silently incanted.

"Her parents were scr- huh, whuh, where am I? What's going on?" The man asked as he shook his head in confusion.

His next words were bloody gurgles as Moriko emotionlessly slit his fat throat from left to right with the blade of a shuriken, severing his jugular vein and giving him a gruesome second smile as he slowly bled to death.

She walked away and never looked back.

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The bandits that had fled gathered together at their old base hidden in the forest. After it was apparent that Leader wasn't coming back the various lieutenants began to jostle for a position of power. They were in the second hour of their argument when the three men in red stalked into the camp.

They moved with such confidence and menace that none of the lower-ranked bandits dared to bar their path, not after the massacre that they had recently endured. The First was a man that seemed of average height and build he wore a folded pair of kusarigama strapped to either leg. The Second as short and squat, with largely muscled arms and hands covered with thick metal gauntlets, there was an odd bulge on his back making him seem to be hump-backed. The Third was taller than average and the hilts of three swords could be seen at his side.

The three were dressed as yamabushi, their faces and bodies obscured by red and black kimono and hakama. Their heads were covered by red scarves and they each wore a hand carved Noh Mask. The First wore Laughing Mask, The Second wore Crying Mask, The Third wore Hannya Mask.

After a few moments the lieutenants noticed the presence of the newcomers and ceased their posturing long enough for one to step forward and ask in a contemptuous tone.

"Who the fuck are you?"

He was answered with a single question.

"Who is the Boss?" Asked Laughing Mask in a friendly tone.

A large and heavy set lieutenant, with an untamed black beard stepped forward. "I am the Boss!" There were some mild grumblings of dissent but none disputed the man's claim.

"Who is the Boss?" Asked Crying Mask in a subdued tone.

"Are ya deaf I said I'm the fricken B-" The bandit roared before his body exploded in a spray of blood that sprinkled around the clearing in a fine spray.

The scent of blood filled the air.

"Who is the Boss?" Asked Hannya Mask in a menacing tone, shaking blood from his fingers.

Every bandit in the clearing replied obediently in a contrite manner, like a classroom of polite children.

"You are the Boss."

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**AN: Proofreading these stories is the bane of my existence. It gets so bad that when I post a story and realize that there's still a mistake after the twentieth time looking through I just want to look the other way. It seems like this story isn't really drawing that much interest compared to God of Flash but it's the one that seems easir to write at this point in time. I've almost finished the next God of Flash so those of you who are watching for it don't worry. **

**It's just that I'm a bit strapped for time at the moment and I've already found the seeds of another story. We'll just have to see how things work out. I like it when reviewers ask questions about the story and make suggestions. It probably won't change what I'm writing but it helps shake me free of thinking only a certain way and not taking into account other aspects of a character's situation that I might not have considered. So reviews (about the story) are welcome. TTFN. **


	9. Chapter 9

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

**I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way**.

"Speaking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Demon"**

**Noh**

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**Years Ago before the beginning of the Second Secret World War...**

_The sharp whistle of a reed flute could be heard over the sound of bamboo trees knocking against each other as they swayed in the wind. The moon was full, the sky was clear, the world was tinged a cold, ethereal blue. I listened to the snap and crackle and the acrid sent of smoke and burning wood filled the small clearing. The amber light of the fire, banished the cold moonlight from the clearing for a time. It cast transient shadows that took the shape of animals, people and fanciful things. The young ones and their teachers sat in a loose circle near the edge of the clearing. They watched as we tumbled and danced through the air, they watched as we told the story of our ancestors. Of Yama-no-Shirotaiga-no-O-Kami and Yamabushi, tales of MaiMai and the Bear God, the history of our people who were born of this mountain, the cleverness of the first Kensei who defeated a bull demon, of why we dance and sing. We told them tales of the reason why we must live, the reason why we must die. _

_It was during that time that I first met young Inuki. Oh, how he must curse that day! I played the Yamabushi Oobumibarabutsubushi Genjirou-sama wandering the desolate mountain and meeting the Wolf Goddess. Of how he hid and watched as she danced atop the stone heart of the mountain, her dainty feet skipping from place, to impossible place under the light of the moon. The Goddess disdained the presence of men, so the Yamabushi snuck upon her dressed in green veils, disguised as a woman. He let free his wild hair, washed in a mountain stream and decorated with leaves. The two, dark and light, male and female, mortal and immortal danced from dusk to dawn. Until, at the first rays of daylight, the Goddess returned to heaven, and the Yamabushi, turned into a bamboo patch, arms outstretched to heaven, transformed thus as divine retribution for yearning for a goddess, or so some say. Yet, under the light of the moon, he continued to dance in the wind, his wooden voice, calling for the Goddess to return._

_The Kouga were born from the leaves that fell from the Mountain God's hair, we call to the heavens with our father, pleading for the Goddess to look down upon us. We dance upon a stage of cold, hard stone and in clearings such as the one in which I danced then, pleading on behalf of our, father. We carved kugutsu that mimicked the Animal Gods and danced with them too. The arts that we practiced were an emulation of nature and of life, and some among us were talented enough to bring fleeting life to our arts. The Invitators who summoned the spirits into living wood, flesh and bone. Those noble few who were once the protectors of the Kouga Clan. _

_The Land of Tatami was once a great and powerful nation, but the great wars sapped our power, until Iwa rulled two-thirds of our territory. Ironically it was the loss of the source of our nation's military might that allowed there to be a Land of Tatami at all. But old soldiers bemoan the end of battle, looking to past glories with ever more longing eyes, only to those who remember the grief and hopeless despair, is peace welcome and war a thing to be avoided. For that reason, within the Kouga Clan for every 'Kensei' there is a 'Naoki'. _

**-Kouga Nipochou Kouga no Naoki**

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The old woman examined the statue intently. Standing in the center of a stone stage, cut into the side of a waterfall, is a large armored figure. It sat upon the stage in a lotus position and from the ground to the top of its head was fourteen feet high. It was clad in the armour of a samurai, with thick metal plates covering its stone body. A large mask of carved wood adorned the statues face. The horrible visage of the mask was the twisted features of an ogre. In one hand was a thirty foot long halberd, with a long, broad blade affixed to one end with a crescent shaped blade attached below it. With the exception of two hand-holds near to the middle of the handle, the entire length of the weapon was covered in blunt metal spikes. The ones near to the thick base of the weapon were tinted a suspicious reddish-brown, in a reasonably sized weapon, that would have indicated that the butt of the halberd had once been used as a cudgel.

But no ordinary man could have reasonably hoped to weild a weapon that weighed close to a ton. The old woman's eyes narrowed in thought as memories of bales past flooded her mind. Memories of a woman, dancing on a battlefield, crystal tears falling from beneath her wooden, Noh mask. Those same memories held a dark shadow, dancing with the woman across a warzone filled with the screams of men and women, lazily reaping the lives of all who dared to stand on the same stage. They were memories of bloodshed. Naoki shuddered.

"Ippon!"

The old woman started as an old man, handsome but for the thick scar across his left eye, poked her in her side.

"Fucking, One-Eye!" She cursed. "It's rude to sneak up on old ladies!"

"'Hahaha! You should have been on your guard!" The man laughed, then gestured rudely to his groin. "When fucking and one-eye are used in the same sentence, it's usually good news for me!"

"Is that what you've been using that empty socket for? I just thought that you were weeping tears of remorse." Naoki sniped.

"What's there for me to feel remorse about? I lost my eye in the field of battle!" Kensei said. "I lost it in battle with the enemy."

"You lost it to your son." Naoki muttered. "When he chose love over duty."

In both their minds is a remembered scene, Kensei sprawled across a battlefield, bleeding from a gash across his face, roaring impotently at the swiftly retreating back of a behemoth. _"Yaaaaaaahhhh!!"_ He bawled wordlessly. _"Raaaaaaahhhhh!!"_ Unable to give voice to the true depths of his rage even as he was dragged away for treatment.

"NO SON OF MINE!!" Kensei roared."Just another traitor." He finished quietly.

Naoki sniffed in disgust and turned away to go, if Kensei had something to say then he would have to damn well get to the point before she lef-

...

...

A single drop of blood splattered on the stone stage, and the statue trembled slightly.

Naoki gagged in agony as the blade that pierced her lung was twisted slightly, tearing the delicate flesh within her chest. At the last second, she had avoided a blow to her heart, but the wound that she had received could still be fatal if it was left untreated. Already her lips were flecked with blood, she could feel an uncomfortable gurgling sensation in her chest.

"Naoki-chan, you should have kept your guard up! But then that's to be expected from a 'bedroom' ninja. It wasn't enough that you were spreading your legs for any enemy ninja that happened to pass you by during the war, you had to involve yourself in my plans!" Kensei sneered at her. "Inuki betrayed your plot the second that he left your chamber. The Invitators are the weapon of the Kouga Clan, any threat to our plans on your part is treason!"

Kensei twisted the knife a little harder causing Naoki to gasp before sagging against his chest. "It wasn't enough," He bellowed. "That, that traitorous, misbegotten, half-breed, snivelling bitch of a witch you called a daughter infected my Saito with her evil ways, her treasonous ideas!" The veins on Kensei's temples bulged obscenely as he ripped his tanto from her back.

Naoki coughed up a torrent of blood and in the instant that the the blood of one who had given birth to an Invitator, touched the stage, the statue released its hold on the halberd. The giant metal weapon fell to the ground with a thunderous crash, shaking the the stage, and one of the tips of the crescent blade snagged Kensei's hakama, pulling him off-balance.

That was all the opening that Naoki needed.

"Ippon!" She wheezed wearily.

She had plunged the poisoned tip of her lacquer hairpin, into Kensei's jugular vein. The Irukanji venom stopped his heart in seconds.

The two ninja toppled off of the stage and into the waters below.

The statue sat atop the stage, with one hand held aloft, palm out, as if to say, "Behold!"

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Days before the bandit attack on the caravan

They sat in the meeting hall of the mansion, the strains of music from a hidden koto player artfully disguised a genjutsu that caused any hidden listeners to fall into a trance where time passed without notice. Inuki knelt before Naoki in utter submission. His mane of wild dark hair fanned upon the floor. For a moment Naoki watched him silently, remembering the past. "Inuki..." Naoki said quietly with a sigh. "Oh, how you must hate this foolish old woman Inuki."

Inuki remained silent.

Naoki brushed the strands of Inuki's hair closest to her contemplatively. I her mind the veils of the past parted and she recalled their first meeting. "Do you remember?" She asked. "Do you remember when your master first brought you to me?"

"...Hai..." Inuki replied.

Inuki remembered kneeling before a beautiful woman dressed in elegant robes and emanating a scent that rivalled the finest rose and the clearest spring. A curtain of long dark hair framed a face that was classically beautiful, lightly painted with soft pink lips. She was a woman somewhere in her early to mid-twenties with a youthful beauty that drew men to her like moths to a flame. Poor Inuki was besotted at first glance and knelt as he did so as not to embarrass himself before the lady by staring.

For her part Naoki remembered a shy ten year-old boy, newly finished training and chosen for his expendability rather than any real talent. The boy was to serve her in any way she chose and she had instructions to throw his life away if it ensured the success of her mission. Extracting information in Tatami's occupied Capital was dangerous work for a kunoichi. Naoki, or Benihime as she styled herself had survived for more than a year in the treacherous environment and was now critically placed in the city. If discovered it was imperative that she either escape with the intelligence she had gathered or, failing in that, take her own life rather than be captured.

_"Inu-ki?" She remembered saying. "Inu...Ki?" She laughed derisively, the pressure was getting to her and sad as it was to admit, this boy made an excellent target for her frustrations. She had asked for more security, perhaps a jounin or, Heaven Forbid! another kunoichi with which to co-ordinate her efforts with. But no! What did that senile old fox of a Kensei send her? "A brat" She said aloud, and noted how the boy stiffened. She tossed her scented sandalwood fan and nailed the boy in the back of the head. "Not a brat, a dog! They send me a dog! Well?! What do you have to say for yourself dog?!"_

_Inuki's heavily blushing face rose and his eyes met her own fearlessly. "B-Begging your indulgence m-milady! I-I may be inexperienced b-but I will protect you with my...to my last breath!" Inuki remembered saying to her._

_His reward for that bold statement was a blow to the face that caused his lower lip to swell, then a foot pinned his head to the floor. _

_"Don't fuck with me!" Naoki cried out. "I'm the third 'Naoki' in as many years, and it's a matter of time till your 'Kensei-shishou' buys the farm! What the fuck do you think someone like you can do?! Save Me?! Dog!" She kicked him at that point. "I'll use up your life to escape, is what I'll do! I'll throw you away the second you hold me back, Dog!" She kicked him again, as her anger drained from her body. _

_Her harsh words were betrayed by the expressions of self-loathing, fear and desperation warring across her features. "And if it comes to it, I'll use you for the reason Kensei-shishou gave you to me for, and have you cut off my head before the Iwa or Mizu ninja get to me! That's what I'll use you for Dog!" _

_Inuki had no answer for her, his eyes were moist but not from the pain of any of her blows. Then he heard a quiet sob, and a teardrop splashed against the palm of his hand, he quietly promised to defend her with his life._

_The next moment she had drawn him to her bosom, and she healed his bruises. She took him to her bed and became his first, as he was hers. After that his body and soul belonged to her and she used his life as she had promised even abandoning him to death once. She healed his scars as he earned them, one by one in her service, eventually ensuring that Tatami maintained some autonomy after the war._

In the present Inuki raised his head to look upon the aged Naoki, his eyes were unreadable. "I have never hated you Naoki-sama." He stated.

Naoki-sama only sighed sadly. "Easier it would be if you did...For I must again make a cruel request."

Looking into Inuki's patient eyes she stated her chilling command. "I want you to arrange my death at Kensei's hand, and then..."

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Somewhere in the woods of Tatami

A messenger falcon circled in the skies above, spiralling upward and out of sight. The message that it had carried was now tightly clenched in the hands of the one who had decoded it. The figure was dressed in loose garb and its face was covered by a lacquered, wood Noh mask.

"We are betrayed." Said the masked woman.

"But, how?" Queried another.

"Naoki is dead, isn't she?" Spoke a third figure, obscured by the shadow of a tree.

"Yes." Confirmed the first "Killed by Kensei-sama... no, murdered by that madman Kensei!"

"What!" Exclaimed the others.

"Naoki-sama's retainers were also murdered and her followers are being detained, this message was sent by one of our agents within the Kensei group." Explained Noh mask.

"Madness!" Whispered an appalled voice from within the shadows.

"What do we do?" Asked the second voice.

"We will carry out Naoki-sama's final wish." Replied the Noh mask. " And when we get the chance, **we'll kill that traitorous bastard Inuki!!**"

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"Action!"

A small man scurried into the Laughing Panda, Taiga City's most popular restaurant. Actually it was the only place in the city that was truly worthy of being called a restaurant. Said qualifications included an enclosed seating area and private booths on the second and third floors where one had a reasonable chance of finishing a meal without being knifed. The rat-like man, hurried past the bartender on the ground floor and raced up the steps taking them two at a time. Upon reaching the second floor the harried man peered surreptitiously over the railing of the second floor, looking at the door. Seeing no one coming through the entrance, the man sighed in relief before continuing on his way walking along the railing of the second floor which ringed the upper level of the public area of the restaurant.

Coming to the base of the stairs that lead to the third floor, the man whispered a password to a menacing guard stationed there, hidden from the view of the other customers by a large fern. Pulling a painted mask from the folds of his clothes the man slowly made his way up the stairs, showing a talisman to the guards at the top of the stairs when he got there before continuing on inside.

The third floor was darkened this evening with thick drapes, the lighting was deliberately dim to suit the nature of the event being held in the large room. Masked men and women, Taiga City's elite rubbed elbows with what was probably the largest gathering of underworld figures in the history of the city. They had all come to take part in the private auction that took place on the third floor of the Laughing Panda at the end of every tax cycle.

Sitting in rows of expensive antique chairs were the well dressed and wealthy denizens of Taiga, hailing from both the zenith and the underside of Taiga City's social circles. Sipping fine sake and eating rare delicacies they waited as the previous item up for bidding, a septuplet of beautiful sisters, all virgins, was removed from the pentagon-shaped stage and a new item was brought up for bidding.

Torches were lit at each of the five corners of the stage and the few lights at the outer wall of the room were dimmed. The man who had entered the room was speaking in hushed tones with someone in the back rows and so missed the appearance of a large, rotund man and a round, shrouded object the size of the man's gut being lowered unto the stage. Like those assembled, the man on the raised platform wore a featureless wooden Noh mask. Uncrossing his arms, the man struck a pose facing the audience with one hand outstretched.

Stomping one zori-clad foot on the wooden stage the masked man bellowed out.

"Welcome, welcome! Gentle sirs and misses, ungentle louts and lasses! A patient soul is rewarded, and avaricious one even more so! Tonight's last item is the cream of the crop, the jewel in the crown, so to say! WHAaaat?! What did you say?! Who can trust a masked man, you say?" Pausing for a moment to allow the low guffaws and soft titters from the audience to subside, the man reached up and removed the blank mask. Before the attentive audience he revealed his face to be...

Another mask.

Painted a furious red and black, with thick, frowning eyebrows and a long nose, the man now wore a tengu mask.

"Rwaaaaghwrrrr!! I am furious, incensed, galled, disgusted, and enraged! My tears are blood and soot and oil! My blood is bile, my heart is vile, and my FACE!" For a second he paused, and in the silence that ensued he added five words gently.

"My face, is a lie."

Twirling in a pirouette, the large man moved with deceptive adroitness. Coming to a rest facing another side of the stage he continued. "Who amongst us speaks with honeyed words yet whispers poisonous rumours? Who looks upon us benignly, yet eyes our goods and spouses and works and houses covetously? Who lends an attentive ear to our troubled friends yet turns up his or her nose at the merest suggestion of lending aid?"

Somehow during his next spin about the stage, the man had switched masks, exhanging his tengu mask for a neutral bhudda mask. "It is better yes, that I speak from behind a mask that cannot lie than with a face that may at any time or inclination dissemble most maliciously."

Tilting his head forward so that the light of the torch cast shadows across the mask, making the Buddha face seem to smile affably, the man continued in a friendly tone. "Yes friends, yes! I shall not lie with this 'face'." Tilting his head upward and away from the torch, the shadows playing across the mask now gave the Buddha face an imposing, and menacing look. "Yes, friends, yes! I shall not lie with this...'face'."

Slowly the man made his way back to the center of the stage next to the shrouded object "Tonight." He continued. "Tonight we shall start bidding at one hundred thousand ryo. No questions asked, if you can't afford it get outta here ya bum! Minimum raise is fifty thousand ryo. Cash is to be provided in full within two days of this sale. Those who renege forfeit honor, reputation, the item in question, the thirty thousand ryo deposit to participate in this auction and the invitation to all future events."

Pausing to take a breath the man continued."Whoever succeeds in owning this item will find themselves in possession of something we all crave. Only those that have it can ever truly surrender it. All that have some, want more, and more, and more." The man's voice grew guttural at this point, and drool began to leak from beneath the chin of his mask.

"And more and More!" He continued." And More, AND MORE!!"

Drawing the shroud away from the object the man ended his speech by spitting out a single word.

"Power!"

Three things happened after that in roughly this order. First, the audience erupted in a frenzy of bidding; second, the torches flared mightily about the stage, temporarily illuminating the figure of a young, dark haired man in the rafters who cried out, while drawing his sword. "For the Ancestors!" Third a figure leaped out from the rafters wielding a sword, diving toward the torches which were flaring again and screaming...

"**Daiiii-namic Entry!**"

Enter, Maito Gai...Movie Star.

Seishun!

"CUT!!"

"Alright, alright! Who added that to the script?!" Screamed Director Mikuno.

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Michiru, or Mimi-chan as she now insisted she be called, fed her coworkers some more line at the deputy assistant stunt coordinator's signal. Working together the other stunt doubles she helped to gently lower the movie's leading man from the rafters to where his fretting manager hovered like a mother hen. Not for the first time she was forced to suppress her distaste for the man as well as the temptation to simply twitch the wire out of the hands of a man here, and off of a pulley there and simply watch as the fool fell to his death.

Orders were orders after all and with at least one jounin nearby at all times such an attempt was not likely to work. It had been incredibly easy to fall in with the pet stunt men and women that Wu Long kept as part of his entourage to help establish himself as a genuine action star. It seemed that one of the stunt coordinators also moonlighted as a 'talent scout' for Wu Long's 'girlfriends'. It was child's play to get close to the crew after discovering that the coordinator was also hiring extras and wire technicians. A meager demonstration of her own abilities and the man had hired her thinking that he had scored a two-in-one deal.

There was some risk involved in her plan as already the jounin had vetted the film crew for potential threats. Her best chance was to stay low and mingle with the stunt and special effects crew which was for the large part composed of former genin and ninja academy cadets. As long as she took that route she would be able to keep tabs on the actor in the course of her duties without anyone the wiser. Though as she listened to Xiaou Wu Long complain bitterly to the director his manager, the film crew, the ninja, the trees...!

Michiru uncoiled her body and started testing the flexibility of her wires, rolling them onto a spool and checking for tangles and snarls. All the while she was intensely aware of the fact that her actions had somehow caught the attention of the smallest of the three genin Uchiwa-something-or-the-other she wasn't sure. But soon enough she was called away to help a member of the crew and nearly sighed when the unnerving eyes of that child left her.

_"The things I do for Inuki-sama"_

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Suzume used her off-time to take in Gai's performance as Maito Gai...Movie Star. Hideo had gone off somewhere to train and Itachi was bugging the stunt coordinators for any tricks with wires that he hadn't known of. Normally so many people gathered together in one place wreaked havoc on her senses but she had been progress in controlling her talents. She would never be at home in a crowd like some ninja, but she wouldn't be rendered completely helpless either. She watched as the stocky jii-san took to the stage and deliver a riveting speech but Nadeshiko drew her attention to the top of the large stage where Xiaou Wu Long and Gai-sensei where tethered to the ceiling by wires and chakra respectively.

The name of the movie was House of Flying Kunai and the protagonist was a daring Ninja Samurai, who was on a quest to defeat the powers of an ancient evil artifact that had been stolen from his family. There seemed to be a few side characters and a leading lady involved as well but their parts had already been filmed with Wu Long off location with the exception of a few fight scenes which would be filmed on location.

To Nadeshiko and Suzume, Wu Long was quickly losing his star appeal. The man reeked of booze and sweaty women in the morning and bitched from sunup to sunset about everything from the number of lines he had to there not being enough caviar flavored pocky. The pocky remark had ticked off Itachi who loved all things sweet and couldn't imagine anyone actuallly preferring the taste of salty fish eggs to the sugary goodness that Itachi loved. So far there hadn't been any 'accidents' thanks in part to the efforts of Gai and Moriko-sensei but there was a nasty rumor spreading that the actor liked it when his women wore a strap-on double-headed dildo to bed.

"Evil Itachi seems to be becoming quite tame." Suzume murmured.

"What was that?" Asked Itachi.

"I said that the stunts seem quite lame." Suzume lied.

Itachi didn't call her on the matter. "They're replacing quantity with quality." He said contemplatively, eyeing the flaring torches which was being provided by a jutsu from Moriko-sensei. "With the exception of Maito Gai." He added as they watched the jounin dive-bomb the burning stage. "But he's.."

" Completely Nutso." Provided Suzume, describing their exccentric jounin counterpart.

**"Dynamic Entry- Ahhh! My hair, my hair!"**

Seishun!

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Itachi watched the stunt coordinators lower Xiaou Wu Long from the ceiling with a feeling of apathy. He had been interested in seeing how the stuntmen used their wire jutsu and for the most part many of the workers had let him in on the workings of their trade. It wasn't any thing earth-shattering although he was sure that one or two individuals were holding out on him. But there wasn't anything about the art that couldn't be done with its ninja equivalent. What interested Itachi now was simply the novelty of learning to use one of his ninja arts in a manner unrelated to killing things.

He listened as Wu Long complained bitterly about the heat drying out his skin, and eventually begin sniping at the technicians calling them shibari freaks. _"Not a wise move when you're still seventy feet in the air. And the Shibari Freaks are keeping you alive."_Itachi thought. There was a spike of killing intent that caused Itachi to stare at the ditzy wire technician that Moriko-sensei had told him to keep an eye on. Up above Wu Long squawked as his violent movements caused one of the harnesses on his body to loosen slightly, it held, as did the back-up harness but the loosening caused the actor to flip upside down for a moment and his manager began running in circles like a headless chicken demanding that someone be fired.

Fortunately for the workers, Director Mikuno had already left to take closer look at the last few scenes filmed. The bulky old man from the stage Matsui-san was eating caviar on diagonally cut cucumber sticks, studiously ignoring the conversation between a hairdresser and Maito Gai...Movie Star.

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Hyuuga Hideo sighed as he deactivated his byakugan, it seemed as though the details that his eyes could pick up was improving. He easily spotted one of Moriko-sensei's shadow clones hidden by genjutsu and another of Itachi's also hidden by genjutsu, but making rude gestures at Hideo. Hideo frowned at that, Itachi was still a brat, a brat who was rookie of the year but that meant little in the real world where Hideo had expected Itachi to falter. Instead the boy had proven himself to be unexpectedly capable.

As he began to run through some basic forms, Hideo made note to mention Itachi's capability during his next meeting with his father and Hizashi-sama. His relatives all seemed to be strangely interested in the workings of his team. Hideo brought his hands together and then spread them apart, keeping his shoulders level as his hands drew circles in the air. He walked in a circle taking care to always face the center of of the imaginary circle. As he practiced he gradually increased the speed of his movements. Then he activated the byakugan and concentrated on creating a focused area about himself where he could see everything.

Dimly as he exercised he was aware of the Moriko and Itachi-clones moving rapidly away from the clearing. Curious, he did a short sweep with his telescopic vision, seeing nothing but trees and small animals for miles and-

_"Fuck!"_

Hideo stopped what he was doing and briskly began walking away, walking only because it was unseemly to run.

_"Fuck, sh#&(!!"_

"Yoohooo! Hideooo-kun! lets train together!" Called Gai, trailing behind him was a hairdresser and clothing designer who had each at one point or another offered to style Hideo's 'pretty' hair and wardrobe.

They caught up with him at the edge of the clearing and Hideo didn't use an escape jutsu because he suspected that Gai just might be thick-headed enough to chase him down and bring him back.

"Hinata-kun and Billy wanted to help me explain how a ninja's hair and clothes are important factors that must be considered when in a fight." Gai exclaimed.

Hideo gagged. _"Hinata?!"_

"We can do it over some green tea and biscuits" Said Billy who nodded and gestured expansively with his painted fingernails.

"Itachi-chama said that you'd love _**doing it **_over green tea and biscuits." Said Hinata who stared avidly at Hideo's long, glossy black hair, blushing mightily when he said the phrase, 'doing it'.

Hideo gagged some more.

A fanatical gleam entered Gai's eyes and he leaned into Hideo's personal space to utter an exaggerated stage whisper. "Have I ever explained to you the wonders of SPANDEX?!"

_"#&#& you #&#) Evil #!&Lf# Itachi!!"_

Seishun!

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The maggots had been appropriately cowed, all that was left was for them to find a way to deal with their enemy. Their oponents had at least two jounin-class fighters, one a hand-to-hand combat specialist and the other a genjutsu master of incredible ability. To make matters worse there must be one or more ninja among their number with impressive tracking or chakra sensing skills. One of the surviving bandits had reported stabbing what sounded suspiciously like a Hyuuga in that genjutsu.

Problematic.

Still, in a few more days they would have the advantage of facing the other ninja within the Kouga Clan's home territory. The Mountains and Valleys of Tatami could be perilous to the unwary.

The three masked brothers looked up as one, they had a plan.

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Deep within a little boy, a monster stirred, bound by blood and jutsu and twisted flesh. He raged, he raged against the world, against time, and man and life and nature and fate. In his perverted dreams unspeakable horrors spread across the world. Children fell upon their parents and ripped them apart, brothers slew their siblings and fathers slew their wives.

**"I'll get free!"** The demon howled. **"I swear, I'll get free and when I do..."**

He breathed huskily.

**"Heh, heh, heh, when I do..."**

**"There will be bloodshed and chaos to drown the world in an endless cycle of despair."**Dark red eyes focused on the ghostly figure of a man wearing the mask of the Shinigami, bound in thick thorny brambles.

**"I promise! Yondaime Hokage!"**

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In a darkened room twelve men plotted to rule the world. In a forest, three masked women embarked on a journey of justice while three masked men sought to commit an act of villainy. Five Konoha ninja moved toward this clash of wills and all the while a single man stood upon a stage of cold, hard stone.

He twirled in the air, dacing upon the stage. His feet stomped in an unkown rythm. When Inuki stopped he was facing the statue with his own hand outstreched. In a gruff vouce he declared.

"Let's begin!"

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**AN: This would go a lot smoother if I had a beta reader. Really, all I do is take a few hours off after writing these things before trying to clean up any grammatical errors. The tense issue bugs me too but really after writing, spell checking, reading and re-reading it I sometimes just want to post it and be done. You guys are just reading the cleaned up result of my exercise in stress-relief so I apologize in advance if I only put enough effort into this to see to it that I sound like just a lazy, good for nothing bum and not an uneducated lout.**

**There was some Gasaraki references in there for those of you familiar with it and a few fainter references to other anime and manga though the dialouge is completely my own. **


	10. Chapter 10

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

**I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way**.

"Speaking"

"Thinking"

**"Demon"**

**-SF-**

**Shigure**

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**Near a river in Kusa**

The terrifying sound on weapons being unsheathed filled the air beginning with an ominous -SHNKT-

"_**You will journey the across the world and write a book…"**_

The air carried an intense feeling of dread.

"_**I don't understand the reasons my self but…."**_

This was likely due to the two opposing groups of ninja facing each other from across the banks of a winding river, passing through a forest somewhere in Kusa. The electrifying silence had followed some harsh words, inflammatory accusations and escalating threats.

The causes of this ire were trapped between these two groups, knee deep in the clear river water. They were two teenagers and one middle-aged man.

"_**You will walk across the globe, observing all of creation and nature as it takes its course."**_

Junko and Mori, star-crossed lovers, destined by fate to be separated by the grudges and prejudices of their elders, the latest victims of a three hundred year old feud between the Tekika and Shizuku clans, the cause of which no-one even remembered.

"…_**have you ever been wrong?"**_

Well not if the third member of their group had anything to say about the matter.

"_**I once dreamt that a young child would stumble across Mount Myouboku and that he would gain the power of the toads…"**_

After all, they'd already consented to allow him to write their story, with the minor embellishments of artistic license that he'd added, all he needed now was the perfect ending.

As the leaders of the two clans geared up to scream insults at each other again, the older man used the distraction to summon a midsized frog. It was a testament to just how absorbed these people were in their own petty squabble that nobody registered the appearance of the ox-sized toad and connected the dots to uncover the identity of the muscular older man as they would have otherwise.

"_**The path that you choose will determine the fate of the world…"**_

As it was the summoned creature had a good few minutes to take in the drawn weapons, the middle-aged man and woman screaming vulgarities and invectives at each other, and the general aura of imminent violence.

It instantly made the correct assumption.

With a frustrated roll of its bulbous eyes and a great, exasperated sigh it reluctantly croaked a question.

**"Jiraiya, what did you do _this_ time?"**

The man on its back was unfazed by the toad's disrespectful tone; he hadn't been able to impress how awesome he was on even one of these creatures in the thirty odd years that he'd been summoning toads and frogs.

"Heh, heh, long time no see Gamayashi. I need some help spreading a little peace and love."

The two glanced for at each other for a moment before listening in on the resumed argument.

"Your bastard of a son defiled my daughter!!" The Tekika clan leader bellowed in his gruff voice.

"Your slut of a daughter seduced my son!!" The Shizuku clan leader screeched in her painful soprano tone.

"Daddy! I gave Mori my virginity willingly! He even licks it there before we start!" Junko screamed at her father in her boyfriend's defense.

Jiraiya quietly giggled…

"Ma! I'm the one who talked her into letting me do her in the ass! She wouldn't even swallow before then!" Mori yelled in defense of Junko.

Someone muttered. "Lucky devil..."

**"More like spreading perversion and sexual deviancy."** Gamayashi dryly remarked.

While it was debatable, whether or not each of their arguments would have cooled their respective parent's tempers, the cumulative effect of hearing both of the teen's statements, one after the other made things much, much worse. There was a stunned silence as the assembled ninja digested the revelation with blushing faces and Jiraiya scrambled for his notebook and a pen.

Then, as far as Jiraiya was concerned, the shit hit the fan.

"You! This is your fault! I hired you to keep my son from doing something stupid!" Screamed one voice.

"You! You scoundrel! I paid you to protect my daughter's chastity! Look what happened!" Bellowed another.

"**It's your fault my kid's a freaking pervert/slut!!" **The voices roared together.

"Any time now…" Jiraiya muttered.

The genius of this particular species of toad that Jiraiya had summoned lay in the powers of the non-lethal psychoactive bufotoxin that it produced in the parotoid glands on its neck. The substance that was spayed from these glands was capable of pacifying mobs with its psychotropic and euphoria inducing effects. It had once, completely to Jiraiya's surprise and pleasure, caused a mass orgy in a village in Earth Country.

In sufficient quantities it also dissolved silk and to a lesser extent cotton fabrics.

It was no surprise that Jiraiya considered it a ultimate weapon of last resort in his journey of exploration in sex…life.

It was also of no surprise that this poison also figured prominently in an incident with Tsunade that very nearly ended Jiraiya's life.

He wound up swearing upon pain of death, mostly pain, to never use the substance except for the good of mankind.

For instance…

A fine white mist sprayed over the assembled groups of men and women as Jiraiya held his breath. The toad finished spraying the assembled crowd and jumped Jiraya clear of the spreading cloud of bufotoxins before he got any of it on his skin. They landed some distance downstream and significantly upwind. The toad settled onto a boulder on the higher bank and Jiraiya pulled out a foldable field lens.

Most jounins would be able to evade the attack but these ninja were at best high chunin level. Also, even if they held their breath, the toxins were capable of being absorbed through skin contact.

They listened for a moment before the sound of a loud chorus of grunting and moaning filled the early evening air.

There was also the sound of furious scribbling of a pen on paper.

Genius…

"_Ehhh, he needed a name for it…Icha Icha Adventure?"_

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**Chikurintake, Bamboo Mountain Range of Tatami**

"I must _insist!_" Harped the middle-aged woman dressed like a strict school teacher, a completely impractical mode of dress for the current terrain, she hitched up her glasses and spoke loudly over the wind in a voice that was beginning to grate on the production manager's nerves.

"Amamiya-san refuses to leave her dressing room until _something_ is done about that costume! It very nearly strangled her to _death_." The actress' agent huffed.

The manager rubbed the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes as he let his senior assistant handle the woman. He entertained a vague fantasy of somehow picking the woman up and pitching her off the edge of the cliff-side location that they were currently filming on.

"That dress is obscene!"

He could see it now.

"Mishima-san the costume was approved of in the pre-production review by the director."

He'd just stalk over to the troll-like hag and bitch-slap the woman a few of times.

"It's tight and ill-fitting."

Then he'd gag her and drag her over to the ledge.

"The tailor fitted Amamiya-san _less_ than a month ago! You were instructed by the Director to not gain or lose more than ten pounds while filming."

The ninja teams were being paid to stop that kind of thing but they were all over the place, he'd be able to nudge her over the edge before they got to him.

"How _**dare**_ you insinuate…"

The beauty of it was that the cliff face had many ledges and cave openings, it wasn't even all that steep in some places. They'd probably save her from fatal injury in time.

"I meant no offense I'm just saying that…"

He opened his eyes and watched the crew go about their work as he daydreamed a little longer.

"_She_ is not _fat_!"

He noticed a young woman, one of the snacks hired for the leading man, a girl who was apparently popular with the stunt crew. He noticed how the wind caught her hair and that from a certain angle, with longer hair, she looked just like….

"From a size six to a size ten in less than a month!"

His eyes widened in realization as he was struck by an idea.

"We will not…"

"That's enough." The manager cut in, "Go tell Amamiya-san that I'll have a word with the clothing designer and that she can relax until we fix the costume."

The agent opened her mouth but the manager cut in again. "The costume's design is not changing, we'll fix it so that it fits her so that she can do the scene, but screw with me on this film Mishima and we'll let legal sort out that six million ryo penalty clause!"

The woman gaped at him like a fish before shutting her mouth with an audible click and turned to leave.

As he watched her departing back it as all that the Production Manager could do not give in to his earlier thoughts. Needing to burn off steam, he leveled a glare on his three assistants and whipped his hand about pointing and barking orders like a general commanding his troops.

"You! Get that girl, the one hired by the stunt coordinator. Her name was M-chan or something. Get her to the lead stylist and tell him to turn her into a passable Princess Shouko even if he has to use varnish and paint!"

The woman saluted and hurried off.

"You! Go find Wardrobe and tell him to get ready to dress a new Shouko! Filming begins at nine!"

The man thus addressed, hurried off to where Gai was exercising.

"You! Get me a miracle!"

"Huh?!" His senior assistant replied.

"Whadaya mean huh? GET. ME. A. MIRACLE!" The Manager screamed.

"H-huh?" His assistant stuttered before stepping backward.

"Frigging hell, is there an echo up here? Do I need to repeat myself? When I say, 'Get me a miracle!' You answer should be, 'What is the nature of your desired phenomenon SIR?'!!"

The Production Manager felt like he was really working off some steam at this point.

"Wh-the n-nat-.." The man stammered.

The Production Manager stepped forward aggressively, anger punctuating his every word.

"You were the one responsible for ensuring that the caterers kept the actors on their diets. You were one responsible for ensuring that that fat cow Amamiya didn't eat everything in sight and spill out of that leather corset of hers! You were the one responsible for keeping that damn agent of hers away from me! You are the one that's going to make sure that that fat diva fits in her costume tomorrow even if you have to cut up that thing, put double sided tape on the inside and fit it on her like a thrice-damned 3D puzzle!" The Manager bellowed at his trembling underling. "And so help me if there's another 'wardrobe malfunction' go find work elsewhere! Are we clear?!"

"Sir! Yes sir!" The man shrieked before running off in tears.

Ahhhh that felt good.

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**Tatami Borderlands, Bandit Encampment**

The bandit camp was almost completely deserted. All that remained was a few dozen guards and the injured. A man walked between the empty tents at times opening the flap of one hovel or another and calling out a name. The name he called was Shimada and the way the man spat out the name made it sound like a curse word.

The man walked over to another tent and called for Unamimaru, apparently another person who wasn't where he should be.

The heretofore unnamed brigand, continued this process of searching through tents for a while longer before a thought seemed to occur to him, a seemingly nasty thought from the way that a dark and ugly grin spread across his face.

Walking with purpose the man strode over to a rickety-looking, wooden structure that was only slightly sturdier than the hovel-like tents behind him. The man quietly opened up the door to what was the bandit storehouse and at times, private funhouse, catering to drugs and other, darker pleasures.

Seeing the scene before him the bandit grinned in sadistic pleasure and irritation.

"_I thought so! Those sons of bitches found one and didn't tell the rest of us!" _The man thought to himself.

Arranged about the storeroom were the sleeping bodies of the men that he had been sent to find.

"_Even that dickhead Kintama was hiding here!"_ He thought viciously, nudging the man in question with his foot.

The man did not stir, he remained draped over a barrel facing the back of the storeroom.

"Drugs!" The bandit snarled angrily. "They used up the fucking drugs!"

He kicked the somnolent man again before being distracted by a wretched groan from the floor.

"_Hehe!"_ The man chuckled mentally.

Lying motionless on the floor, her hair covering her face was a woman. She was dressed in a ruined kimono that failed to cover her breasts and hid neither the dark shadow of her sex nor the pool of blood that wet the backs of her upper thighs. The woman was clearly out of it and he fully intended to be the one to bring her back to the horror.

"Scream for me." The bandit muttered.

He smirked evilly as he loosened the bindings of his robes and then the loincloth beneath. Feeling himself come erect at the thought of what he was about to do, he felt no qualms at all about abusing an already brutally raped woman. He leapt upon her and began greedily licking at her neck and sucking on her nipples, snorting like a pig, he fumbled in his excitement as he tried to find her core and gasped with pleasure when he felt a soft hand, not his own, take hold of his member and begin to guide him there.

"_She's gone insane with lust no doubt!"_ He thought happily.

Had the bandit Chukubi been a deep thinker, he would have noticed during his close proximity to the woman that there were no bruises upon her body.

Had he been an intuitive man, the stillness of the bodies surrounding the woman would have put him on his guard.

As it was, Chukubi was neither a deep thinker nor an intuitive man, if he had been he probably would have become a schoolteacher like his mother wanted him too, before he killed her. As it was, Chukubi was also quite stupid and so the first inkling that he had that something was dreadfully wrong was the muffled -POP- from somewhere in his nether regions and the sharp, blinding pain that stole his breath from him and reduced the scream of agony building in his chest to little more than a breathy wheeze.

With surprising strength the woman heaved his body off of her. He tried to rise but a delicate hand, glowing with a soft blue light held him firmly in place.

He had only enough time to gaze at his broken tool, swollen, red and bent unnaturally to the side, before she straddled him. The pain was excruciating.

She whispered a question. He spat in her face, or at least tried too, for all that he could see within the shadows of her hair were her grinning mouth and a pair of mirthful brown eyes.

Slowly she began to grind her hips into him; the sensation was indescribable, and not in a good way.

Blood began to leak out from between them, his blood, it squirted out in fits and bursts from his ruined member.

It felt like someone was impaling him upon a red hot spike that traveled from his hips to his sinuses. He couldn't breathe, couldn't scream.

It was through teary eyes that he noticed the faces of the other men who had been artfully placed, facing away from the door.

Dead eyes set in faces filled with agony.

The devil-woman leaned in toward the bandit and whispered her question again. Grinding her hips and tapping on a rib with glowing blue fingers.

"How do they plan to attack?" She asked softly.

A rib broke.

The pain made the man gasp and all that he could do was utter a single wheezy word, hoping not to share his comrades' fates.

"S-shigure."

Had Chukubi been a deep thinker, an intuitive man, or even slightly less stupid he would have realized that the kunoichi's eyes were not mirthful at all.

And that she was going to kill him.

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**In the forest some distance away from the Bandit encampment**

The woman zipped up her black leotard before strapping on her weapons fitting many hidden surprises, very nasty hidden surprises, within the disguised pockets of the form-fitting suit. A bandolier of scrolls, kunai and a pair of tanto was strapped to her chest and hidden by a loose, knee-length yukata which itself had a hidden, wire-mesh, armor lining.

As she replaced her Noh mask her teammate asked her a question.

"What do we do now?" the woman said.

The newly dressed kunoichi gave an order that was simple and direct.

"We find them." She said. "And we stop them."

She continued. "If we get the chance, we kill them!"

That was all she needed to say, they had already planned out an ambush, now that they knew where to hold it.

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**Xiaou Wu Long on location**

Xiaou Wu Long or Koukai Genhei as he had been born, was easily bored. Bored of waiting for his frigging co-star, bored of his lines, bored of the type of girls he slept with. It had been like that when he'd been living a boring life as a doll-maker's son whose mother taught flower arranging, traditional dances and tea ceremony etiquette.

The lives of Koukai Ichiro and Koukai Saya were as boring and uninteresting as could be. His father wasn't even a _ninja_ puppet maker. And the most interesting thing about his parents was the fact that for several years until his ninth birthday they had insisted that he be disguised as and taught to act like a girl, which including learning some of the most emasculating dances imaginable and habits that he had literally spent the rest of his life trying to forget.

Not that anyone knew of course. His parents had been firmly set against his acting career and adamant that if he persisted that he not release any information that risked their privacy.

Genhei had happily complied.

As far as anyone, even his manager Yue knew, Genhei was an orphan, whose parents had been great adventurers and had died at a youg age leaving the tragic child to be raised by the caretakers of an orphanage. No mention was made of his three younger brothers and five sisters.

His family had seemed strangely content, even acting the part during a visit from Yue.

When they had heard about new movie in Tatami his parents had acted very oddly, his usually calm and graceful mother had shattered a clay teacup with her bare hands and his stoic father had sliced off a piece of a log with a _half-inch shaving tool_.

The two had dithered about, flustered and trying to convince him not to go before settling his suspicions with the lame reason that he was somehow cursed and that they were just trying to protect him.

When he had refused, the weird ones that he called mother and father had shrugged and promised to name one of the family dog's newborn pups, "In his memory."

Aside from the bandit attack and the cool ninja chick his time in Tatami was as boring as ever. He was slightly interested in the girl that the production manager brought out to be a double for Amamiya on her 'thin days' but that interest quicckly faded as she stumbled through her lines.

It came back very quickly when the crazy girl tackled him to the ground and the earth exploded. As sound and sight blearily came back to him he noted that the girl smelled like his mother's spider lilies in bloom.

Then his bleary eyes noted the many hundreds of arrows flying through the sky toward them. He noted that the ones intercepted by the young dark-haired ninja seemed to explode violently.

Looking about himself, pinned under the weight of the girl, he noticed that the other ninja were engaged in battles of their own.

_"Things can't get worse."_ He thought.

Then the rain began to fall, a late autumn rain.

"Shigure" He thought blearily.

Then the ground began to rumble and with a dull roar a torrent of water gushed out of a cave opening several meters above his position.

As a torrent of debris strewn water rushed toward them and the unsettled earth began to sweep them toward the edge of the cliff, he gave a little thought to his parents and wondered a little, just a little…

Maybe there was something they weren't telling him.

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**AN: I got a part-time job and on the first day waited in line at a Mom and Pop burger joint around the block from where I'm working. My doctor was very specific about the things I was supposed to eat due to my illness. So having a rather ugly premonition I spent about five minutes having a conversation that went like this.**

**Hold the Mayo.**

**Hold the whuh?**

**Hold the Myonaise!**

**Gotcha! Spicy with mayo!**

**and so on and soforth!**

**having friends in food service made me apreciate the shit that food service people have to take so when in doubt I use the voice I usually reserve for little old ladies and dumb animals. Gentle, clear and concise.**

**No Mayo.**

**My boss was two people behind me and coughed meaningfully while tapping his watch. I took the order and got out of the line. Suffice to say I called in sick the next day. Food poisoning, lost the job too... So the updates were slow, how was your day? **


	11. Chapter 11

**What horrors do his crimson eyes behold? These are the unfathomable depths of Uchiha Itachi.**

I don't own Naruto nor do I profit from these writings in any way.

"Speaking"

"_Thinking"_

**"Demon"**

**Shinsui**

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**Interlude #2 Go Team Hentai!**

"Ohhh! Akane have your breasts filled out?"

"Hahaha, muuu, stop squeezing them, desu! They're kinda sore desu! Don't touch me there it tickles desu!"

"Misato-hentai! Stop groping Akane-sempai!"

"Jealous much monkey girl? Miho-chan is still flat as a board! I'm not interested in boys!"

"Hands off her you creepy dyke!"

"Noo, don't fight! Ah! Stop pinching my nipples! Fuuu!"

"See, Akane doesn't mind!"

"Arrrrghh! She definitely minds!!""

The semi-playful argument between the two sixteen-year old chuunin in the bathhouse and their teammate was viewed through the lens of a powerful field scope a city block away.

"Ah, Akane-chan those breasts will be immortalized if it's the last thing that I do!"

The conversation came not from the ladies in question but from the mouth of the talented young boy who was avidly reading their lips.

"Hahahaha! Noooo! Don't touch _there!_"

It was a conversation that he was repeating loudly for the benefit and chagrin of his two teammates.

Akimichi Chokichi, twelve year old genin hopeful with his sandy brown hair done up in a sloppy top-knot and his generous girth covered by a blue t-shirt and brown happi coat ensemble, completed by baggy, knee-length pants and other ninja gear. The Akimichi clan crest was displayed proudly on his back.

He was the dutiful and respectful elder son of the famous Akimichi Chouza and was currently munching on a pack of super-crunchy wasabi flavored pork rinds while not! He was definitely _not_ intently listening to the conversation that his friend Kirito Shindou was relating shamelessly.

Kirito Shindou was a studious looking boy with glasses and well-kept black hair. He wore a well tailored black jacket with the crest of a crescent moon and clouds on his back. His shirt and pants were also black and there was a collection of scrolls holstered in his jacket. He wasn't the type of guy that one would expect to be a hentai-lover, an otaku maybe but it could not be denied that he was currently grossly misusing his well-honed information gathering skills.

The third member of this prospective four person cell was the beautiful, young Miss Yamanaka Hitomi, blessed with startling hazel eyes filled with flecks of green and chips of ice-blue color mixed in with shades of brown and grey. Her ash-blonde hair was currently done in a short ponytail that reached the collar of her halfway unbuttoned blue jacket, the only concession to her parents who thought a wire-mesh bodysuit covered only by a purple tank-top and tights with a few artfully placed bandages and ninja gear was a bit 'much'.

She was at the moment trying to ignore her teammate and try to keep her temper. Unfortunately her efforts seemed to be in vain because any second now she felt that she was going to-

"_**Will you quit it with that disgusting habit you perverted Nimrod!!!!" **_

-explode...

Team twelve's sensei one Nura Rikudo found his genin in a tangled mess of punching fists and kicking legs.

He smiled witheringly.

A few minutes later a bashful group of prospective genins were following their sensei through the crowded streets of Konoha. Nura Rikudo seemed to be one of those no-nonsense, well put together adults that the graduates had learnt could be dependable.

Sadly that impression didn't last.

It all started out well with the three obediently following their sensei. First Rikudo-sensei wandered into the Yamanaka Flower shop. Hitomi cooed at little Ino while Kirito watched their team's sensei. He bought six yellow chrysanthemums, a dozen rock roses and a score of fragrant cinnamon tree buds all of which were arranged around three peonies in full bloom.

Kirito frowned slightly as he adjusted his glasses.

"_Unless I'm mistaken sensei seems to be apologizing to someone. All of those flowers, in the language of flowers yellow chrysanthemums mean slighted love, cinnamon buds mean forgiveness of injury; rock roses mean surety, Peonies mean romantic love."_ Shindou mused upon just what his sensei was doing as he followed the man out of the shop.

The genin then followed their sensei into a bookstore where they watched their teacher pick up a book from a shady looking store clerk. Then he led them to an apartment complex and asked the three to wait outside. At this point Hitomi and Shindou began trading ideas about what their sensei could be doing.

"A jilted lover!"

"Too mundane."

"He was the jilted lover!"

"Too lame."

"A sick friend?"

"I doubt it."

"Perhaps a new love interest?"

"If they're on the outs and he's trying to curry favor!"

"Maybe they're for his mother."

The two blinked at Chokichi's suggestion and looked at him as if to say "Are you nuts?"

The stocky boy merely shrugged.

Suddenly there was a muffled crash and Rikudo-sensei came barreling out of the door and sagged boneless atop Hitomi, there was a bruise on his right cheek. Strangely, the passers-by all acted as if what had happened was an everyday occurrence but that fact went over the genin's heads at the moment, all of their attention was on their sensei.

"I cannot go on without you. Darling, without your love, without your lingering kiss I'm hopeless." Rikudo muttered into Hitomi's ear.

"_Ehhhh! K-k-k-kiss!"_ The girl thought as she blushed heavily. Chokichi stared in amazement while Shindou grabbed for a pen and paper.

"The Way of the Lolita-L-o-v-e-r, by Rikudo-Sensei, step one" Shindou murmured as he scribbled.

Unfortunately the boy got no further as his sensei suddenly jumped to his feet with renewed invigoration and dragged the children off to a tea house.

"Come on! Come on! Youngsters should eat heartily while they play hard! Heh, heh!" Their sensei laughed raucously in the somewhat upscale teahouse causing the other guests, mostly young women, to giggle.

"Is this a bribe?" Hitomi wondered aloud as she gazed longingly at Chokichi's banana split with extra, extra whipped cream. Kirito ordered mitarashi dango while Hitomi had some green tea.

Their sensei drank some sake from a ceramic sakazuki while eating some yakitori with salted daikon slices. He seemed to be pensive for a while before swallowing and beginning to speak.

"Well it seems like we all got off on the wrong foot so allow me to begin again. Hello, my name is Nura Rikudo, you chickadees can call me Rikudo-sensei, but if you really want to get on my good side just call me Rikudo-nii-san or Rikudo-O-chama. I don't mind as long as it's cute!"

At this point Shindou cut in before things became too confusing. "Sensei, what happened back there? Did you cheat on a girl or something? Is that why you got clobbered, for cheating with someone's friend?"

Rikudo-sensei paused in consideration. "Not just the friend." He said slowly. "If you must know my girlfriend walked in on me having sex with her best friend, her best friend's sister, her own sister and her mother." He mused to himself while Hitomi's face paled and white cream dribbled out of Chokichi's open mouth, they were twelve-year olds after all.

Kirito was cheering.

"Well, after she walked in on me I tried to offer her a place in the daisy-chain but for some reason she didn't seem interested, in fact, she even seemed upset." Rikudo continued.

"Of course she was!" Hitomi exclaimed.

"Now, now that's just a childish way of looking at things. If all those people close to her were indulging themselves, doesn't that mean that she was missing out on something? Birds of a feather or something like that ya know? It reminds me of the time when I once went to see the Sakura trees in bloom, it was a beautiful sight but all too soon it was over, the trees were bare and the ground was covered in rotting blossoms. I always cried back then but now I understand that bad things and good things are just a part of life, why bother with the injustice of it all when you can just live your life with the people you love, and speaking of love…"

"Why'd we get the weird one?" Hitomi whispered to Shindou.

"-market prices are so high these days it makes getting a job so difficult, let alone keeping one…"

"I hear all jounin get a little eccentric over time, maybe he's actually the normal one." Shindou replied.

"-rosebuds running, ripping, reaping, really, wheelies, widely, wisely, say it six times quickly and…"

"Can we apply for another team?" Hitomi wondered.

"-until you pass, you're not really, genin…"

"Huh? What was that last part?" Shindou exclaimed having only been listening with half an ear.

"Hmmm? Where did I lose you?" Rikudo asked.

"At hello," Hitomi muttered spitefully.

But Chokichi answered smartly having actually been listening to his sensei's rambling stream of consciousness. "Rikudo-sensei was explaining the meaning of life as it applies to the adult world and informing us that we wouldn't be considered official genin and thus adults until passing a final evaluation exam from our assigned jounin."

"Huh! Test!" Hitomi screamed in outrage.

"I'm sure I mentioned this before, if you pass you're in if you don't then you're ninja career ends, simple." Nura-sensei chirped happily.

Hitomi looked like she wanted to scream and had to be dragged away after team twelve was dismissed.

Their exam the next day was an infiltration and retrieval mission and at first things went smoothly until a chunin entered the apartment and very nearly caught them. If they hadn't worked together they would never have retrieved the locked security box from its recess in the bedroom wall. They'd run a wild chase through Konoha before finally losing the older woman in the crowds around the market place.

They'd been in high spirits when Nura-sensei passed them. So much so that when Nura-sensei offered to show them what they'd recovered Hitomi, Chokichi and Shindou had all eagerly agreed.

"T-t-this is!!!" Shindou exclaimed as a gentle glow fell upon the three genin's faces.

"Yup! The Limited Gold edition Icha Icha Paradise Volume One! It'll go well with my silver edition Icha Icha Battles!" Rikudo-sensei crowed happily as he pulled the silver colored book from beneath his jounin vest and placed it in the box.

"Sa-chan wouldn't let me near the bedroom where I hid it, not even when I gave her flowers." Rikudo-sensei muttered sadly.

Shidou continued staring while Chokichi slowly inched behind him and away from-

"**Ero-hentai!!! All this was to collect the porn you were hiding from your ex!!!"**

Go Team Hentai!!!

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**While Genhei has an Epiphany**

"_Hm, hmmm, hm. hm, hm!"_ The girl hummed mentally.

"_Hmm, hm, hm, hmmm!"_ She was humming an old lullaby

"_Well, my name is Inuzuka Suzume, I'm currently a twelve and a half year old genin teamed up with a scary seven year old and an uptight Hyuuga, though I've yet to meet any other type of Hyuuga."_ The girl in question ducked under a wild swing from a sword, dropping to her hands and knees. She then coiled her body into a leaping handstand and kicked her aggressor in the chin.

Spinning away from the man she paid no attention as a red furred Akita Inu leapt upon the staggering man's exposed neck and ripped his throat out. With animalistic moves the girl spun away from another attack clawing at her opponents eyes. Swiftly moving behind her enemy in a low crouch, she drew a kunai from her leg holster and stabbed the man the back aiming for a kidney before ripping the weapon out leaving a ragged wound, spurting blood.

Then in a wild leaping somersault, she kicked and broke the nose of another approaching bandit before landing hard on the shoulders of the man desperately trying to staunch the blood flowing freely from his back. The impact of her landing and her added weight brought the man to his knees, where a certain Akita Inu was waiting…

"_To be perfectly honest I'm the type that likes girlish, no, I like feminine things. Unfortunately such things don't suit me, but Moriko-sensei says that a kunoichi can be both strong and beautiful. Gai-sensei was very kind and told me that I was in the bloom of the spring time of youth or whatever! He said that most guys prefer strong women!"_

The stab wound was in an awkward place for the man to properly staunch the bleeding and the dog savaging his groin didn't help matters. When the girl kicked off his shoulders, with the dog following close behind, he fell onto his face with a keening wail and did not rise.

"_To be a strong and beautiful Kunoichi is my goal!"_

The girl spun violently with her dog clinging to the back of her hoody. She used her momentum to break through the guard of an unfortunate bandit and plunge her now claw-like thumbs into the man's eye-sockets. She then drove her knee into the bleeding face of the howling man. The studded metal knee pads hidden under her pants, impacted with crushing force on the blinded man's face, as she leapt away, spinning her body in a tight spiral, she smiled.

"_I'm like, sooo happy!" _

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**Earlier that Day**

Mi-chan was very, very happy with her boss. She loved getting the guys coffee and her co-workers were always willing to point out that she should always lift from her knees and not from her waist. They watched out for her to let her know when she was bending instead of stooping. She really should have learned her lesson but she kept making the same mistakes, fortunately there was no end of volunteers to give her a back-rub when she was sore.

The wire coordinator was very impressed with Mi-chan, he said that she could do things that he had never seen before. He put her on the first team and promised to keep her there as long as she did her work properly even if she was something of a ditz.

Mi-chan was really, like, really popular. Guys from the crew seemed to flock to her like bees to a flower. They all tried to find reasons to keep her in their section even though she was assigned to the stunt group. They babbled about everything, anything to keep her there a moment longer. Mi-chan heard lots of interesting gossip. She 'oohed' and 'ahhed' appropriately when told about the many famous actors on the set. She 'oohed' and 'ahhed' most sensually when they talked about Xiaou Wu Long…

Mi-chan was so very interested to talk about him so they talked about him often…

Very interested…

Mi-chan listened as Assistant Director Mizuno took the time to answer some questions from the ninja-brats about the cave entrances dotting the mountainside. Some of the crew who were off-duty listened as well so Mi-chan had no need to hide her interest.

Michiru was bored.

"It's been theorized that these cave systems pass all through the mountain range, but no-one has ever been able to create a comprehensive map." Mizuno lectured the genin.

Michiru already knew that and more, Mi-chan smiled in interest.

"There are some places where the system intersects the underground water-table, unexplored sections that are completely flooded." Mizuno continued.

Michiru knew better, those sections were unexplored because if the misdirection genjutsu and the barrier seals failed to work then her clan would assassinate anyone who got too far. There were hidden bunkers that had been in use since before Iwa had invaded Tatami during the last war. Large, fresh water cisterns, formed from deliberately flooded caves were used to provide the Kouga clan with several years' worth of drinking water. If need be sections could be drained into nearby rivers or blocked to refill empty cisterns.

At this time of year if Shigure, the late autumn showers, came as predicted then the barriers used to control the water level within the mountain would be lowered to prevent flooding.

"It's a rather mysterious place." Mizuno finished.

Mi-chan 'oohed' and Michiru smirked inside as her hair was tousled in the wind. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and idly wondered about a way to get closer the main actor without arousing suspicion.

Minutes later an assistant production manager ran up to her with an urgent request. Mi-chan jumped for joy and Michiru smirked again. .

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**Two and a half hours later**

The smirk was long gone from Michiru by the time that she was allowed on the set. Being assaulted by two effeminate men who criticized everything about her from her 'coarse' hair to her toe-nails, _"What the fuck was wrong with a slightly chipped pinky nail?!"_

They complained loudly over their _'subject matter'_ like she was a lump of low quality stone waiting to be carved and they weren't sure that she wouldn't just crumble at the first tap. She tried to keep her cool as she was pushed and pulled, poked and prodded this way and that way, made to wear the most ridiculous of costumes, had her face, painted, _spray-painted_ and her hair styled and woven with fake hair of all things. In the end she was just moments away from stabbing someone when the costume and makeup managers declared themselves saints for performing a miracle.

_If they called her an ugly duckling, one more time…_

As it was Michiru was somewhat overwhelmed with the staring and played off her nervousness at being watched by that creepy child ninja as stage fright. She was certain that the Director was going to call an end to the scene when she heard whistling.

The whistling of arrows…

Michiru didn't hesitate to tackle her squawking co-star and cover his body with her own, keeping him alive was a part of her mission from Inuki-sama after all.

The first explosion drove the wind from her lungs and knocked her out.

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Gai's mission was to secure the safety of the leading man, thus while Xiaou Wu Long was being swept away by the flood waters he should have been hurrying after the man intent on dragging him to safety. Unfortunately, the red cloaked ninja that he was fighting had other ideas.

The man that he was fighting seemed well versed in a style of Goken that he hadn't ever seen before. The were elements of snake and horse style kung fu mixed in and the fighter used his cloak to throw off Gai's ability to sense his opponents centre of gravity and direction of movement.

The fight was further complicated by the random bandit who would try to attack from his dead angle. To be truthful he wasn't so concerned by a bandit's clumsy attempts at a sneak attack as he was by the group that were making their way over to the film crew sheltering from the arrows and the waves on a rock outcropping while Director Mikuno furiously ordered them to keep filming.

Gai's divided attention cost him as the bladed end of his opponent's kusarigama nicked his chest. There was a slow burning sensation and the skin around the wound became numb.

"_Poison!"_ Gai thought.

Fortunately the toxin seemed to be a type that paralyzed muscles and was none too potent. Few warriors carried poisoned blades unless they were assassins or hunting big or fast moving game. Otherwise the risk of poisoning themselves accidentally was too great.

Still Gai grimaced as he stab kicked a bandit approaching from behind on the left. At the same time he reached into his backpack.

It was time to use _**that.**_

The masked man was almost upon him again when the nunchaku cleared its case. The thick metal bar whirred as Gai spun the free section and sparked when he used it to bat away a spiked mace. Gai spun and ducked, allowing a curved sickle to pass throughthe space previously occupied by his neck. His legs coiled and added power to his rotation as he swung about into a leaping charge from below.

The nunchaku blurred into a dark arc that smashed one of the kusarigama blades into useless scrap, the links changed hands and Gai batted away a mace with such force, that the spiked metal ball burst off of its chain and rocketed toward its wielder.

His opponent leapt backward desperately, flipping backwards into the water as the fist-sized spiked ball blasted into the rocky ground at his feet. For a second Gai sighed, grateful that the arrows had stopped flying. Suddenly a dark shadow fell over him and Gai turned about in time to see a giant paw slap a spear wielding bandit on the head causing the man to slam resoundingly onto the rocky earth.

Gai blinked.

_"Well…"_

There was a giant panda wearing a mawashi and kesho-mawashi standing upright with the sun behind it and the breeze ruffling its fur and the ornate green silk belt about its waist.

For a moment Gai was at a loss for words.

Then the panda grunted.

Now to be clear, Maito Gai was a manly man. _**Manly men**_ the world over, regardless of language, ideological or cultural differences were all able to naturally understood the language of grunts, it was just something that came with having a penis.

Pandaspeak "Meh-hmm grunt!"

Gaispeak "Your…kenpo…is…very good!"

Pandaspeak "Grunt cheh-hmmm-grunt! Grrrrrr!"

Gaispeak "I have come…to do battle…with the one that you fight…Do not get in my way! Grrrrrr!"

Any further conversation was curtailed as Gai batted away a spiked ball and then dodged three fish-shaped water missiles. The Giant panda simple smashed its paw down upon the water element jutsu in what looked like a tsukitaoshi maneuver.

Pandaspeak "Mehmmmm!"

Gaispeak "Panda Rakanken!"

The rocky ground was crushed by the blow but the panda wasn't finished. Twisting to one side and dropping to all fours the creature lifted both fore and rear limbs on its right side.

Pandaspeak "Grunt grunt grunt!"

Gaispeak "Panda Dairankanken!"

Gai was forced to abort his fight with the masked man when a wave of rock blasted toward his opponent, shaking the mountainside. The ground seemed to literally unzip and reseal itself. The hillock that they were fighting on began to collapse into the flood water. Suddenly there was a piercing whistle and the ninja wearing a laughing mask leapt into the muddy water and did not resurface.

Pandaspeak "Cheh!"

Gaispeak "Cheh!"

Before Gai's amazed eyes the giant panda grunted dismissively, slapped its front paws together and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"Too cool! Too cool! You're too cool Mysterious Panda X!!" Squealed Gai, giving the exit two thumbs up.

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**While Maito Gai meets Mysterious Panda X**

Moriko dodged again. This time the blade had shaved away a few wayward strands of hair. Her tanto was an inadequate weapon to go against her opponent's katana. Hannya mask took every advantage of that fact and seemed to be keeping the pressure on her, not giving her a chance to run, just waiting for her to make a fatal mistake.

She'd tried kawarimi only to nearly be skewered, and she hadn't tried closing to lock blades after what had happened the first time…

--

_The tanto was quickly drawn from its hidden sheath inside of the scroll on her lower back and swung around in an arc meant to disembowel the ninja sneaking up behind her. It was met by the flat of a katana blade. Moriko's other hand was almost invisible as it darted toward her enemy's neck in a blurred motion. For although she wouldn't be able to trap her attacker in a more complex genjutsu with one hand occupied she could still use one of her minor tricks if she could touch the back of his neck._

_She was aware of the hand that jabbed into her chest below her right collar bone and immediately suspected that the enemy ninja might be trying something similar to what she was attempting. As a result she immediately attempted a jutsu cancel. The maneuver saved her life…_

_There was a sharp tearing main that was swiftly stopped as Moriko expelled the foreign chakra from her body and stilled her own chakra flow for a second. She coughed up blood and spat the red fluid that had collected in her mouth into the eyeholes of the Hannya mask. A quick shunshin later and she hid underwater trying to heal the damage wrought by the unknown jutsu…_

---

Things were getting desperate, this man was the wrong opponent for her, she swiftly ran through her options while vainly fending off her opponent. There was a flash of pain followed by a hot flush of warmth as Hannya mask's katana slid home between the lower ribs on her left side. The tanto fell from her nerveless fingers and in the distance her opponent could hear Suzume scream in horror.

He swiftly turned in the girl's direction, drawing a second blade in preparation of an attack when _Take_ began sprouting from the ground at his feet. The swift growing stems swiftly became giant bamboo clumps, pinning his body in place. From the stems above Moriko emerged.

**"_Magen: Jubaku Satsu, Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death"_**

As her tanto arced toward his neck Hannya mask broke the illusion and leapt away from her. Moriko's blade, instead of sinking into her opponent's neck, scored a line across Hannya mask's shoulder.

**"_Ninpo: Hyakka Ryouran, Ninja Art Profusion of Blooming Flowers"_**

Hannya masks vision was filled with flowers, the illusion covered his sense of smell with a mix of fragrances and the rustling of plant life distorted his hearing. It was only instinct and experience that allowed Hannya to dodge the blade that stabbed from his blind spot.

"Kai!"

The flower filled field twisted and faded away revealing the soaking wet form of Murasaki Moriko.

For someone who had dodged death just seconds ago, Hannya mask seemed quite satisfied.

"Those eyes…and the genjutsu…" He murmured. "You are a Kurama clan member…"

Moriko said nothing.

Hannya charged forward at high speed in a zigzag pattern that confused the senses. Suddenly he stopped and threw his head backward.

"Don't underestimate me girl!" He roared.

A kunai had nearly taken him in the eye, thrown from Moriko's actual position thirty degrees to the left of the image in Hannya mask's mind.

**"_Magen: Nijū Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu, Demonic Illusion: Double Sly mind effect"_**

A brace of kunai and shuriken flew from Hannya masks blind spot, the whistling noise of their passage through the air was his only warning over the roaring water. Hidden in an illusion under an illusion Moriko was actually positioned thirty degrees to the _**right**_ of the image in Hannya mask's mind.

She arrowed in toward him behind the cloud of flying weapons, Hannya mask used a chakra string originating from the darkness of the mouth piece of his mask to draw the third katana from his belt and poise the weapon overhead like a scorpion's stinger. The three weapons blurred into motion, deflecting the kunai and shuriken. Some of the weapons were harmless bunshin, but a few were actually hidden by genjutsu. After having one stab into his chest, deflected by the armor under his kimono, Hannya Mask caused the floating weapon the spin like a propeller before flashing viciously at Moriko who dodged.

Their battle was further complicated when a masked woman darted out from behind a rock and attempted to behead Hannya with a wide curving blade. The force of the blow was such that it had taken all tree of his swords to fend off the attack.

Normally this may have been the end for Hannya but the newcomer seemed to work at cross purposes with his first opponent and at times seemed to be willing to kill the violet haired kunoichi if it meant striking a blow against him.

The fight continued on in this manner for a few moments until Hannya mask noticed a faint orange glow followed by a pained scream and a plume of black smoke. Then, the mountain rumbled. Not seeing his target, Hannya mask whistled sharply and then dived into the water, vanishing.

A moment later the masked kunoichi dressed in a green and brown keikogi fled in a swirl of leaves while Moriko struggled to slow her breathing. Unable to stop the fleeing ninja, she shifted her attention to the stranded film crew.

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**While the Bandit troupe lets fly with arrows**

Manju Mareo was having a field day because for once he'd been assigned a duty that didn't involve charging blindly a group of armed guards. He chuckled at the thought that his fellow bandits would be doing exactly that against ninja on the slope opposite. He felt no guilt that some of his explosive tagged arrows would be killing his comrades.

"_After all, the fewer to share the more money for m-"_

--

Whatever Manju Mareo was thinking ended when an iron staff smashed into his temple, cracking his skull open like an egg.

"_**Bojutsu: Ou Ranken!! Bo Technique: Phoenix Orchid Circle"**_

Twirling the metal staff while spinning in a circle, the heavy weapon cracked skulls, broke kneecaps, smashed bows, the hands that held them and generally caused outright mayhem as its wielder, a masked woman dressed in a form fitting suit under a short yukata progressed down the line of archers.

A few of the men at the end of the line dropped their bows and charged forward with swords and clubs. The woman used her bo to vault into the above the two men spinning in a brief somersault before swinging the metal staff upon them twice, first while in the air and again as she landed, using the momentum of her body's spin to add power to the dreadful blows.

"**Bojutsu Ougi: Nijū Raimei!! Bo Secret Technique: Double Thunderclap" **

All that remained to the two men was a pool of crushed meat and the blood dripping from the staff which became a length of bamboo as woman stopped reinforcing it with earth element chakra.

A small monkey scurried onto the woman's shoulders as her eyes hidden behind a blood-splattered Noh mask surveyed the twisted corpses surrounding her.

No more arrows rained from the sky that day.

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**After the Sky stopped raining arrows**

Hideo systematically wiped out all the bandits attacking the film crew. After he had helped Itachi and Suzume move the civilians under cover they had been dodging the raining arrows while dealing with the raiders. Itachi had quickly noticed that some of the arrows were explosive and he worked at catching thos before thay got near to the mountain and added to the havoc.

Director Mikuno was screaming out orders like a general and generally waving a figurative 'See me! Kill me!' sign over his head, Hideo had already saved the man from being hit in the neck by arrows no less than seventeen times. The middle aged man simply carried on much to the genin's chagrin.

"_Get a -)(!$^&:ing clue and stay under cover!"_ He thought with uncharacteristic heat after saving the man for the eighteenth time.

He dodged around a blow and tapped his fingers against a bandit's shoulder. The man swung with his left fist and Hideo tapped that too. The man kicked and Hideo tapped a few places on the offending limb. The man hopped forward on one foot, arms swinging limply and tried to head-butt the genin.

Hideo tapped him on the crown, the hapless bandit keeled over and did not rise.

Somewhere along the way Hideo lost track of Itachi.

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**While Hideo taught someone about a brick wall called fate**

Itachi raced after the lead actor and actress as they were being swept away by the flood waters. He had almost reached them when a dark object blasted into the ground before him. a quick kawarimi allowed him to get out of the open and hide in the meager shadow of a boulder.

Carefully using his headband as a mirror he looked around his cover. The object that had slammed into the ground a metal gauntlet attached to a chain. The other end led to what looked like a giant bat but on closer inspection was really a man with some kind of strange, wings attached to his back via a harness. Itachi also noticed that Xiaou Wu Long and the stage hand were wedged between some rocks and debris. It was a precarious position too close to the edge of the cliff.

Then something else happened. There was a whirring sound and a small girl appeared over the crest of a nearby ridge. The masked girl wore a lime green yukata and a necklace of blue beads. She was holding onto what looked like a stripped down umbrella, only in place of the ribs were six spinning blades.

To Itachi's sharp eyes it seemed that three blades spun in a clockwise direction while three spun in a counter clockwise direction. With an eerie glow the beads around the girl's neck separated and took flight attacking both the winged man and barreling into the earth around the actors that Itachi was trying to save.

Even as the aerial battle began Itachi had already dipped his hand into his equipment pouch. His eyes never leaving the battle, never letting his charges out of view and at the same time he was desperately trying to keep track of all the small objects; following trajectories, analyzing attack patterns, mapping the battlefield and struggling to come up with a plan.

Slowly, his irises turned blood red and two tomoe began circling each of his pupils.

"_**Sharingan!"**_

From the perspective of a weapons master the plan that Itachi came up with was a thing of beauty.

After all he was the only graduate to ever score 200% on a test graded out of 100% for shurikenjutsu.

He had achieved that score with a performance that paled in comparison to this.

"_Stage One!"_

Itachi first hurled eight kunai in a standard fan dispersal pattern, then eight more in a closing orchid pattern where the kunai curved outward and then inward toward a single point. Then, using chakra he swiftly threw shuriken at seemingly random intervals.

The bat winged man barrel-rolled to avoid the thrown weapons and again to dodge the even faster moving shuriken. But Itachi wasn't aiming at him.

Initially…

The girl who was attacking the main actor tried increasing her altitude and counter-attacking but as Itachi had noted there was a range limitation to how far away she could send her flying beads. Lying flat on his back one of the metal balls stopped mere inches from his face before rocketing away.

When the girl tried lowering herself and dodging the thrown weapons instead, Itachi's shuriken caught up to the kunai.

It was a beautiful chain reaction of ricochets and secondary ricochets, the ordered patterns of the weapons changed into a mystifying maze of death. Even when the kunoichi tried to fly higher again there was no escape as some of the thrown shuriken impacted flush on the base of the kunai, shooting them even higher than they had initially been thrown.

Some of the weapons ricocheted downward falling far faster than they would have naturally and doing so in patterns that forced the bat-winged shinobi to pay attention to what was going on above as he was surprised by a few of the blades falling toward him.

"_Stage Two!"_

One of the kunai neither fell to earth not rocketed skyward, instead it spun in mid-air, midway between the two flying ninja, before the smoke bomb attached to its ring exploded, engulfing the two flyers.

Red eyes narrowed, picking up outlines through the haze.

Itachi scrambled to his feet and reached into his backpack in preparation.

A second later an angry bat-winged flyer shot out the bottom of the cloud.

"You fucking brat!"

He was exactly where Itachi expected him to be.

"_A shuriken?!"_ The masked ninja thought.

Flying head first towards a giant shuriken Crying Mask was barely able to evade by using the aerial acrobatics of his artificial wings.

"_Stage Three!"_

"_**Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!" **_Itachi smirked.

"_A second shuriken hidden in the shadow of the first! Kuu!" _The masked ninja mused.

"_But!"_

Twisting his arm around the flying ninja blocked the flying blade with a gauntleted fist and shot the armored claw off of his hand and down toward the boy below.

"_Stage Four!"_

A soft flutter of cloth wads the man's only warning of the figure that landed on his back. Reacting out of instinct alone he reached overhead at the first touch and fired the second gauntlet. The metal fist grabbed onto the boy's head and launched him into the air.

"The smoke cloud wasn't just a distraction to hide his set up, he had intended from the beginning to use the shadow of the cloud to hide his own shadow. The trap in the shuriken hidden in the shadow of the fake shuriken was a diversion from a diversion! This child! Just what is he?!" Crying mask thought furiously.

Looking down, his hidden eyes narrowed as they took in the apathetic face of the genin evading his gauntleted fist that was digging a trench through the ground as the boy hopped from rock to rock in evasion.

Dark black hair in a short ponytail, a calm face, milky white skin, dark red eyes with the-

"_Shit!"_

"_Stage Five!" _

Itachi ran ahead of the metal gauntlet and then leapt off of the edge of the cliff. His fists covered in the pilfered gloves of a wirejutsu user clutched with all their might to a cat's cradle of wires that were wrapped around a moss covered boulder. Midway though Itachi's leap he was jerked into an arc as the wires came taut and pulled him out of the path of the gauntlet.

At the same time there was a shriek and a strangled shout.

As Itachi swung toward the apex of his arc the smoke cloud began to clear and reveal the final part of his plan.

The girl in the hovering contraption was desperately trying to disentangle herself from the wires trapping her and being reeled in by the spinning propellers, a kunai attached to a wire was stuck in her leg. The wires used the same moss covered boulder as a pulley. The other end of the wires was looped around the neck of the bat-winged ninja, strangling him.

"_**Shurikenjutsu: Shoufuushou no Tachi, Shuriken Art: Windmill Blade Manipulation"**_

Shadow clone Itachi vanished with a –Poof- within the second gauntleted fist.

Itachi's body and the centripetal force generated by his movement served as a counterweight that dragged the asphyxiating male ninja down toward the boulder. At the apex of his curve Itachi had the weakly struggling man pinned to the rock.

"_**Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu, Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!" **_

Beginning as a white hot line of fire spat out from his mouth, the flames quickly expanded into a dragon shaped burst of fire that shot along the guide wire and impacted on the trapped ninja who screamed in agony. A much smaller burst of flame followed along another wire toward the girl in the hovering tool but she had by then managed to free herself and leapt clear.

A dark shadow dived toward her and a large eagle with a broad fifteen foot wingspan grabbed her out of the air and the two glided out of view as the hovering device was consumed in flames.

At the same time the mountain rumbled and there was a piercing whistle. The flood water splashed against the cherry red rock and it steamed. With a loud crack it split and the loop of wire unraveled. The red hot rock and the corpse baked into it missed Itachi but the deluge of water and debris didn't. He struggled to hold on but something jerked against his waist, pulling him off the wire.

He struggled to hold on to the rock face with chakra but the water made the rocks slippery and he slid about halfway down the cliff before stopping. He was tugged a second time off of his perch and a camera tripod struck him on the head.

There was darkness…

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**AN: How'd you like that? And just to note all of my stories are currently active. Updates will come. Read and review. TTFN.**


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